Rajat Sharma
On the day when Delhi High Court sentenced Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma recalled his experience of the bloodbath.
“I recall the incident when I was a reporter…while passing through a locality of Sikhs in East Delhi, I witnessed the mutilated bodies of innocent Sikh brothers,” said Sharma.
“It was horrifying and scary. And I can understand what the families of the victims have gone through in the past 34 years," India TV Chairman said.
“From the past 34 years, these people are shouting that Sajjan Kumar is the killer. There were eyewitnesses, proofs but no punishment,” he added.
Interestingly, the Delhi High Court on Monday sentenced Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to life in the first conviction of a politician in the communal frenzy, holding it was perpetrated by those who enjoyed "political patronage".
For over three decades, the "criminals" had escaped prosecution and punishment, said the court.
In November 1984, the mass killings of Sikhs in Delhi and elsewhere were in fact 'crimes against humanity', a bench of Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Vinod Goel said and added, “They will continue to shock the collective conscience of society for a long time to come."
The high court further said that despite the challenges faced by it, "truth will prevail and justice will be done".
The high court directed Kumar (73) and other five convicts to surrender by December 31, 2018 and not to leave Delhi.
WATCH VIDEO: Aaj Ki Baat with Rajat Sharma | December 17, 2018
