AAP welcomes conviction of Sajjan Kumar; BJP slams Cong

NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal welcomed the Delhi High Court decision on the imprisonment of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar on Monday. The AAP recalled that in the 49-day government, the Chief Minister first passed the Cabinet decision of making a SIT on the riots which was sent to the LG and MHA in the due process.

"I welcome Delhi High Court verdict convicting Sajjan Kumar in 1984 riots case. It has been a very long n painful wait for innocent victims who were murdered by those in power. Nobody involved in any riot should be allowed to escape no matter how powerful the individual maybe," tweeted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari, too, welcomed the decision of imprisonment for life to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar who played key role in the murder of Sikhs. He said that this decision of the High Court is sufficient to show that the character and behavior of Congress Party is violent and cruel which is dangerous for the unity and integrity of the country. Congress Party has always tried to divide the country into communities and castes and has always disregarded the interest of the people and given highest priority to its own interests.

On Monday, the Delhi High Court held Congress leader Sajjan Kumar guilty in the killing of some Sikhs and sentenced him to imprisonment for life, 34 long years after the brutal violence shook the national capital and other places.

AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said: "If exemplary punishment had been given to the perpetrators of 1984 riots, nobody would have repeated it in 2002." He said the conviction of a senior political leader like Sajjan Kumar showed that the judiciary had started to work now and justice was being served to the victims. The Greater Kailash MLA underlined that the High Court had compared the 1984 and 2002 riots, saying both had "political patronage" and "state sponsorship".

An AAP statement said: "What is extremely surprising is why the BJP, which was in power at the Centre between 1998-2004, did nothing for a concrete probe into the 1984 riots and what is further surprising that even Shiromani Akali Dal was a part of this government." It said it was Arvind Kejriwal who recommended setting up an independent SIT to probe the 1984 riots during his first term as Delhi Chief Minister in 2013-14. "Then Congress-appointed Delhi LG Najeeb Jung did not allow this... What is further shocking is that after Modi took power in May 2014, it set up a committee to ascertain whether any SIT was required," the AAP said. The Delhi Assembly in 2015 passed a resolution dubbing the 1984 violence a genocide.