Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar, convicted for life imprisonment in a 1984 Delhi Sikh riots case that broke out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was not relieved by the Supreme Court on Friday and the court refused to grant him bail.

Seventeen-year-old Delhi Congress veteran Sajjan Kumar, a seventy-five-year-old Delhi Congress leader, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in an anti-Sikh riots case and is lodged in Mandoli jail.

The apex court, while hearing his plea today, refused to grant bail and said that his bail plea can be heard only after the court starts functioning smoothly. Sajjan Kumar had requested bail in March citing his age and poor health. The court also did not accept the request to keep him in the hospital.

After the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 by her security guards, there was a rage against Sikhs across the country including Delhi. In a case related to these riots last year, the Delhi High Court bench overturned the lower court order and convicted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and others. Sajjan Kumar was awarded life imprisonment in this case.

The Supreme Court refused to grant bail to Sajjan Kumar, saying that his medical report said that he did not need to be admitted to the hospital at present due to his health.