The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed pleas for interim bail or parole on health grounds of former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who is serving life imprisonment in an 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, saying that he did not need hospitalization as per medical report at the moment. Like Kumar, former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, who is also serving life term and ex-MLAs Mahender Yadav, undergoing 10 years imprisonment in the same case, could not get any relief from the top court which rejected their similar pleas. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices Indu Malhotra and Hrishikesh Roy, in the proceedings held through video conferencing, perused the medical report of Kumar and dismissed the interim bail plea.

"In the meantime, let a copy of the report dated March 11, submitted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, be supplied to the appellant (Sajjan Kumar)," the bench said, adding that the plea for grant of parole or an interim bail are dismissed. The regular bail plea of Kumar will now be listed for hearing in August, it said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, and senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for some riots victims, opposed the bail plea of the convicted leader. Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the convict, said that his client be granted bail as if something happens to him in jail then his life imprisonment would become death penalty for him. The apex court had earlier asked CBI to respond to the plea of Khokhar seeking grant of either interim bail or parole for eight weeks in view of COVID-19 pandemic.