DNA Edit: Sajjan Kumar’s conviction – The wheels of justice move slowly but surely

The wheels of justice for victims of the 1984 riots may grind slow, but grind it does. On Monday, Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was found guilty and sentenced to life for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots by the Delhi High Court, which cancelled an earlier court order that had acquitted him. Sajjan Kumar was convicted in the killing of five members of a family in the capital’s Raj Nagar locality in the fateful and frightening days following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in November 1984. More than anything else, as the court noted, it was the indefatigable motivation of one victim, Jagdish Kaur, who pursued the case with dogged tenacity for over three decades to take it to its logical conclusion. It proves - if proof was ever needed - that the Indian criminal justice works if eyewitnesses do not turn hostile, which they do in a vast majority of cases. 

While many witnesses saw Congressmen leading murderous rioters, Sajjan Kumar is the first leader to be convicted. The conviction has come at a time when Congress has won three important states and the shadow of culpability in the 1984 riots continues to fall over one of the recently crowned chief ministers. Hyper activity and conviction in cases relating to the 1984 riots have to be placed at the doorsteps of the SIT, set up by the BJP government in 2015, which has decided to initiate reinvestigation in several cases relating to the period. Naturally, cases against some other Congress leaders charged with rioting, who were acquitted by lower courts over the years, could also come up. In that sense, fresh investigations against party leaders is like a Damocles Sword hanging over the heads. At another level, it is good that rioters are being booked and it is important that this gathers momentum. For the health of the Indian Republic, it is just what the doctor ordered.