1984 riots: Sajjan Kumar instigated mob to kill Sikhs, victim reiterates before court

New Delhi: A key prosecution witness in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case Thursday reiterated before a Delhi court that Congress leader Sajjan Kumar had instigated the mob to kill Sikhs.

Denying Kumar's suggestion that she had not named him in her earlier statement given to the Delhi police, Cham Kaur told the court that she always named Kumar as the one who instigated the mob. While cross-examining her, Kumar's lawyer suggested, "You took names of all the rioters in your statement....But you never named Sajjan Kumar. You are taking his name now." To this, Kaur said, "I have always taken the name of Sajjan Kumar." Kaur had earlier told the court that she had seen Kumar allegedly addressing the crowd in national capital's Sultanpuri area in 1984 that Sikhs had killed "our mother" and instigated the mob to kill them. "On October 31, 1984 we were watching TV on the demise of Indira Gandhi. On November 1, 1984 when I stepped out to look for my goat, I saw accused Sajjan Kumar addressing the crowed and was saying 'hamari ma maar di. Sardaro ko maar do' (our mother was killed... kill the Sikhs)," Kaur had told District Judge Poonam A Bamba. She further said that the next morning, they were attacked in which here son and her father were killed. "My son Kapoor Singh and my father Sardarji Singh were pulled out of the hiding place on second floor, beaten badly and were thrown down from the roof," she said, adding that she herself received injuries in the attack. During the proceedings, Kaur had also identified Kumar, who was present in the court. "I could recognise the accused Sajjan Kumar, as we used to visit him for getting help in making ration card, passport. We used to visit the accused for getting the papers stamped as he was the MP/MLA," she said. She further named other persons who were shot dead on the same date by the mob. The injured and the family members of victims were taken to the police station and relief camps by police and army respectively. She told the court that she had named Kumar earlier also. Before Kaur, another key prosecution witness Sheela Kaur had identified Kumar as the one who had instigated the mob in Sultanpuri. The case was transferred from Karkardooma court to Patiala House court here by the Delhi High Court, which had directed the district judge to video record the proceedings at the cost of the accused. Kumar and two other accused, Brahmanand Gupta and Ved Prakash, had said that they were ready to bear the expenses of the videography of proceedings. The three accused are facing trial on charges of murder and rioting in the case pertaining to killing of Surjit Singh in Sultanpuri. The proceedings in the case were earlier stayed after the victim and complainant Joginder Singh approached the high court seeking transfer of the case while alleging that evidence was not being properly recorded.