Supreme Court notice on plea to cancel anticipatory bail to Sajjan Kumar

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar on a petition filed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) seeking cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to him in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

A bench of Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan issued a notice on the special leave petition (SLP) filed by the IST against the February 2018 Delhi high court order upholding the anticipatory bail granted by the trial court in December 2016.

Justice Sikri orally observed, “It is high time that such cases are adjudicated at the earliest. The bench also said it was an over 30-year-old case and it took around “200 pages” for the high court to grant anticipatory bail when it could have been done in just “40 to 50 pages”.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh appearing for the SIT, told the bench that there are two first information reports (FIRs) against Sajjan Kumar, and that he could have been arrested if not for the anticipatory bail order.

The Additional Solicitor General said that despite the Justice GP Mathur report of the alleged involvement of Sajjan Kumar, the high court upheld the order of anticipatory bail to the Congress leader on February 22.

The court said the available records indicate that pursuant of the orders (of the trial court), Sajjan Kumar has made himself available for investigation and it has been submitted on his behalf that he shall continue to do.

The high court also said that the SIT was not able to make out any ground for cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Kumar.