Event
Delhi Cantonment Massacre: Raj Nagar and Palam Colony
A mob of about 2,000 killed five Sikhs of one family in Raj Nagar and burned its gurdwara; Sajjan Kumar was convicted for it only in 2018.
Who: Victims: five members of one Sikh family, Kehar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh. Perpetrators: a mob that the CBI put at about 2,000. The trial court convicted five men over the killings, among them former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar and retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal. Sajjan Kumar, then the sitting Congress MP for the area, was later convicted of criminal conspiracy, murder and promoting enmity between groups. The Kehar Singh killed here is not the Kehar Singh hanged in 1989 over Indira Gandhi's assassination.
What: On November 1, 1984, the CBI said, an armed mob gathered in Raj Nagar, Palam Colony, around 7 am, meaning to kill Sikhs and loot and burn their property. It attacked and set fire to the Raj Nagar gurdwara. Over November 1 and 2 five Sikhs of one family were killed. The FIR (416/1984) was registered on the complaint of Daljit Kaur, whose father was set on fire by a mob on November 2.
Jagdish Kaur, who lost her husband, her 18-year-old son and three cousins, told the court that around 10 am on November 2 Kumar addressed a crowd and said no Sikh should be left alive. Nirpreet Kaur told the court she saw the gurdwara burned and her father burned alive.
Where: Raj Nagar Part I and Part II, Palam Colony, in the Delhi Cantonment police station area of south-west Delhi. Delhi Cantonment was one of the 21 assembly segments of Outer Delhi, and The Wire reports that 341 Sikhs were killed there.
Why it mattered: This is the case in which Sajjan Kumar, a former Congress MP, was finally convicted, 34 years later. Police filed five chargesheets in March 1985, but the investigation then stalled for about 21 years. The Nanavati Commission found that police did not even record the victims' complaints against Kumar. The CBI took over in October 2005. On April 30, 2013, the trial court convicted five men but acquitted Kumar, giving him the benefit of the doubt. The CBI and Jagdish Kaur appealed.
On December 17, 2018, the Delhi High Court (Justices S. Muralidhar and Vinod Goel) reversed the acquittal. It found Kumar guilty of criminal conspiracy, murder and promoting enmity between groups, and ordered him to stay in prison for the rest of his natural life. It spoke of "abject police failure" and said the perpetrators had enjoyed political patronage and been aided by an indifferent law enforcement agency. By December 22, 2018 Kumar had appealed to the Supreme Court. He died at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on August 20, 2026, while serving life sentences in Tihar Jail.
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Sources
- Thirty-Four Years On, Long Arm of the Law Finally Catches up With Sajjan Kumar, The Wire. thewire.in
- The Wire report on the December 2018 Delhi High Court verdict against Sajjan Kumar, The Wire. m.thewire.in
- 1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Court sends Sajjan Kumar to jail for life, Gulf News. gulfnews.com
- Delhi HC convicts Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in anti-Sikh riots case (Dec 17, 2018), The Week. theweek.in
- 1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Sajjan Kumar moves SC against conviction (Dec 22, 2018), The Week. theweek.in
- Sajjan Kumar, ex-Congress MP and anti-Sikh riots convict, dies (Aug 20, 2026), The Week. theweek.in
- Sajjan Kumar, 1984 anti-Sikh riots convict and ex-Congress MP, dies at 80, ThePrint. theprint.in
- Sajjan Kumar Dies Serving Life Sentence: A Timeline Of His 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots Cases, Outlook India. outlookindia.com