The Delhi High Court (HC) on Friday sought the response of the AAP government on a plea by Balwan Khokhar, who along with former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, seeking parole to file an appeal.
Justice Najmi Waziri issued notice to the AAP government on the petition in which the convict said he wanted parole for a month to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the Delhi HC’s December 17, 2018, verdict.
The HC on December 17, 2018, had set aside the trial court’s verdict, which had acquitted Kumar in a case related to killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar Part-I in Palam Colony in south-west Delhi on November 1-2, 1984, and burning down of a Gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II during that period. The riots had broken out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her two Sikh bodyguards. The HC had also upheld the conviction and varying sentences awarded by the trial court to the other five: Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal, former MLAs Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar.
