"He has committed Genocide", SG Tushar Mehta says as Supreme Court refuses to decide on interim bail for former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar

The Supreme Court today refused to pass any orders in an interim bail application filed by former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots..Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Kumar, asked the Court to grant his client bail on medical grounds, as he may be suffering from Cancer.."He has been produced before the AIIMS board and could be suffering from cancer. If tomorrow Kumar dies, then his life imprisonment will automatically get converted to death penalty," argued Singh before the Bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices Indu Malhotra and Hrishikesh Roy..CJI Bobde interrupted Advocate Singh as he spoke about the "death penalty for Kumar", stating,"At the moment, we do not want to decide the bail application.".Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), submitted that there can be no interim bail for Kumar as he had "committed genocide.".On April 30, the Supreme Court had sought the CBI’s response in a plea filed by former Congress Councillor Balwan Khokhar seeking grant of either interim bail or parole for eight weeks in view of the COVID-19 pandemic..Khokhar and former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar are serving life imprisonment in Tihar jail after the Delhi High Court convicted them in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case on December 17, 2018..Breaking: Delhi HC sentences former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar to life imprisonment in 1984 anti-Sikh Riots case.A Bench of CJI Bobde and Justice Aniruddha Bose had earlier taken note of the submissions made by Khokhar’s counsel that prisons need to be decongested to contain the pandemic as has been suggested by courts as also the government..The Bench, hearing the plea via video conferencing, then asked SG Mehta, representing the CBI, to file a response..Sajjan Kumar bail plea: Supreme Court seeks medical report from AIIMS.Khokhar was earlier granted four weeks of parole by the Apex Court on January 15 following the death of his father..[READ ORDER]