The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 6 November, directed that ex-Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, sentenced for life by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, be examined by a panel of AIIMS doctors.
The top court sought a report in four weeks from the panel of doctors constituted by the AIIMS director after Kumar sought urgent listing of his bail plea on health grounds.
A bench headed by Justice SA Bobde said it will hear the bail application of Kumar in the summer vacation next year.
On 5 August, a bench headed by Justice Bobde had said it would hear Kumar's bail plea in May 2020 as it was not an "ordinary case" and required detailed hearing before any order is passed.
“We are of the view that the health condition of petitioners (Kumar) be examined by a panel of doctors constituted by the AIIMS director. Report the file in four weeks,” the bench said.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Kumar, said he has been in jail for the past 11 months and has lost around 8-10 kg of weight.
He said Kumar has been suffering from various ailments and has serious health issues.
To this, the bench said losing weight does not mean that he is unhealthy but still "we will order examination of his health conditions by a panel of doctors".
The Backdrop
The Supreme Court on Monday, 4 November, agreed to consider an urgent hearing to the bail plea of former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, sentenced for life by the Delhi High Court in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took note of the submissions of senior advocate Shekhar Naphade that the bail plea of Kumar be accorded urgent hearing.
“We will see to it,” the bench said when lawyers for Kumar prayed for urgent listing of the bail application.
Earlier the former Congress leader had moved the top court challenging the conviction and award of life imprisonment by the high court.
He has also sought bail during the pendency of his appeal in the apex court.
Kumar (73), who is lodged in jail, had resigned from the Congress after he was convicted by the high court.
The case in which he was convicted and sentenced relates to the killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment's Raj Nagar Part-I area of southwest Delhi on 1-2 November in 1984, and burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.
The high court had convicted and sentenced Kumar to spend the remainder of his life in jail for the offences of criminal conspiracy and abetment in commission of crimes of murder, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of communal harmony and defiling and destruction of a gurdwara.
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