Indian Court Sentences Politician To Life In Prison

Indian Court Sentences Politician To Life In Prison

The Delhi High Court has handed down a life sentence to a veteran Indian politician in connection with his participation in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, VOA news reports.

The court found 73-year-old Sajjan Kumar guilty of inciting crowds during the riots in which nearly 3,000 people, mostly Sikhs, were killed. He was an MP of the then-ruling Congress party at that time.

Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards. They were upset by her decision to send the military into the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s holiest temple, to expel militants.

The rioting lasted three days.

Kumar has been asked to surrender to the court by the end of the month.

He had been acquitted by a lower court in 2013, but India’s top investigative agency said the veteran politician took part in a conspiracy of “terrifying proportions” with the police in the 1984 riots.

The Delhi High Court said it appeared there were ongoing large-scale efforts to suppress cases against Kumar.