New Delhi [India], February 25 : Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) General Secretary Jagdip Singh Kahlon on Tuesday said that it was a sad matter that Congress leader Sajjan Kumar had not been given a death sentence in the 1984 anti- Sikh riots case row.
Speaking to the media, Kahlon said that justice would have prevailed even if Kumar was given life imprisonment.
"We are upset that someone like Sajjan Kumar was not given the death penalty. I believe if he had been given a death sentence, it would have been better, and we would have felt satisfied...After 41 years, even if he got life imprisonment, justice has prevailed. I respect the verdict of the court," Kahlon said.
Meanwhile, members of the Sikh community led by Sikh leader Gurlad Singh organized a protest in front of the court ahead of the trial court's pronouncement of sentence for Kumar.
Protestors demanded a death penalty for Kumar, who had been earlier convicted for his involvement in the murder of a father and son in Saraswati Vihar during the riots.
In the matter, Gurlad Singh urged the court to deliver the aximum sentence to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar. Singh emphasized that more than 40 years have passed since the tragic events, and justice must be served.
While leading the protest, Gurlad Singh stated, "It's a judiciary phrase that justice delayed is justice denied. Four decades have passed now. We demand only the death penalty for Sajjan Kumar. These cases fall under the rarest of the rare category, as the 1984 riots were a pre-planned genocide orchestrated by the Congress leadership.
"The Sikh community, still mourning the loss of their loved ones, hopes that this sentencing will bring some measure of closure and justice for the victims and their families," he added.
Gurlad Singh is also a main petitioner in the matters presently heard by the Supreme Court in the Sikh riots cases in which the Supreme Court in 2016 had constituted the SIT in the matter.