SC seeks CBI reply on parole plea by 1984 riot convict Khokhar

Supreme Court on Thursday sought CBI's response on a plea of former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, serving life term in an 1984 anti-Sikh riot case, seeking grant of eir interim bail or parole for eight weeks in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

Khokhar and former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar are serving life imprisonment in Tihar jail in case after Delhi High Court convicted m on December 17, 2018.

A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justice Aniruddha Bose took te of submissions made by Khokhar's counsel that prisons need to be decongested to contain pandemic as has been suggested by courts as also government.

bench, hearing plea via video conferencing, n asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing CBI, to file response. Khokhar was earlier granted 4-week parole on January 15 by top court following death of his far.

Senior advocate H S Phoolka, who represented riot victims and was in his native vill in Punjab, opposed bail plea.

"That Applicant is constrained to approach this court for enforcement of his rights guaranteed under Article 21 of Constitution in order to save his life. Applicant who is a senior citizen around 65 years of suffering from various ailments like diabetes, hypertension and severe joint pains and is languishing in jail for more than six years. " applicant has been denied parole which has been liberally granted to hundreds of prisons in wake of COVID 19 pandemic putting his life in jeopardy," convict said in his plea.

It said that in March, when COVID-19 had started gripping country, a statement was made by Delhi government in high court that in order to contain spread of contagion, it would amend Prisons Rules to give an option of parole to convicts and under trial prisoners.

convict sought parole under amended Prison Rules 1211 and said that he was suffering from various ailments which made him vulnerable to virus, it said. parole was denied to convict under Rule which prohibited such a relief in cases where investigations have been conducted by CBI.

"That rejection of applicant’s prayer for parole on this very ground is apparently unjustifiable and unconstitutional being violative of Article 14 and 21 of Constitution of India," it said. Earlier, top court had said that it would hear bail plea of or convict Sajjan Kumar in case during summer vacation.

Khokhar's life sentence was upheld by Delhi High Court in 2018, while it had reversed acquittal of Kumar by trial court in 2013, in a case related to killings of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar Part-I area in Palam Colony in southwest Delhi on vember 1-2, 1984, and burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.

anti-Sikh riots had broken out after assassination of n prime minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards. high court had also upheld conviction and varying sentences awarded by trial court to or five -- Khokhar, retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, Girdhari Lal and former MLAs Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokhar.

It had also convicted m for criminal conspiracy to burn down residences of Sikh families and a gurdwara in area during riots. trial court in 2013 had awarded life term to Balwan Khokhar, Bhagmal and Lal, and a three-year jail term to Yadav and Kishan Khokhar.

Following high court verdict, life term of Balwan Khokhar, Bhagmal and Lal has been upheld and sentence of Yadav and Kishan Khokar has been enhanced to 10 years in jail.