On Wednesday, a Delhi court convicted former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar for his role in the killing of two Sikhs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The court will decide his sentence on February 18.

Currently incarcerated in Tihar Jail following his conviction in a separate riot-related murder case, Kumar was charged with organising a crowd and encouraging them to kill Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh on November 1, 1984, in the Saraswati Vihar neighbourhood of Delhi. After Operation Bluestar, two Sikh bodyguards killed former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, sparking the riots. The court had postponed the judgment after hearing the final arguments in the case last December. 

During the hearing, the prosecution stated that Kumar led the mob, which was armed with weapons and involved in widespread looting, arson and destruction of Sikh properties. According to the prosecution, after killing Jaswant Singh and his son, the mob looted their house and then set it on fire. However, the former Congress MP denied all the charges while giving his statement in court. There was "sufficient material" to imply that Kumar was not just a participant but also the mob's leader, the court had said. The senior Congress leader has been convicted in multiple cases, including abetment, delivering inflammatory speeches against Sikhs and disturbing communal harmony.

After Narendra Modi's government took charge in 2014, a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to reinvestigate the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases. This verdict marks an important step in the long fight for justice for the victims.