'This Is No Small Case': SC Refuses Bail To 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots Accused Sajjan Kumar

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant bail to ex-Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti Sikh riots case.A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna & V. Ramasubramanium stated that his appeal against conviction will be heard once top court starts physical hearings. Bench also refused his hospitalisation, stating that medical reports suggest that he doesn't require any.Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for Kumar and asked the bench to consider the bail plea on merits as the High Court's judgment was faulty. "The witnesses deposition was completely reversed in the High Court and Trial Court," said Singh.However, the CJI led bench refused to grant bail to him, adding that neither does that justify a "faulty" judgment and nor does his health require hospitalisation.CJI Bobde said that this was not a "small case" and that bail will not be considered at all at this stage.Singh urged to Court to grant bail to the accused on account of ailing health and spiralling weight loss but Senior Advocate HS Phoolka opposed this by submitting that Kumar was being well taken care of.The top court has been consistently denying bail to Kumar. On May 13, it refused to grant interim bail to the ex-congress MP stating that there was no ground for hospitalisation reflected in the medical report submitted by AIIMS board warranting bail.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had then argued that the case was in fact of "genocide" and that "Kumar was leading a mob".On March 4, the top court had directed Sajjan Kumar to appear before an AIIMS Board to determine whether his medical condition warranted institutionalisation. The Board was directed to submit its report in a week.The former Congress MP had moved a bail application before the apex court on health grounds, and his counsel, Senior Advocate Vikas Singh had asked the court to hear it on an urgent basis.Singh informed the court that Kumar had lost 7 kgs and was dealing with a life threatening disease due to which he must get interim bail to be admitted to hospital for immediate medical attention.On January 14, Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had issued notice on Congress Leader Sajjan Kumar's plea against his conviction and sentence in the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots Case.

'This Is No Small Case': SC Refuses Bail To 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots Accused Sajjan Kumar

Sanya Talwar

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