never ever we forget our martyrs

Never Ever We Forget Our Martyrs / 1

Never Ever We ForgetOur Martyrs

Carnage '84

A Homage to the Innocents Killed in November 1984


Never Ever We ForgetOur Martyrs

Commemorative Volumeon the occasion of30th anniversary ofSikh Genocide ofNovember 1984

by

The Sikh Forum

Published in Nov. 2014First Edition

The Sikh ForumNew DelhiTel.: 9650308581, 9313290538, 9910143121E-mail : [email protected]

Printed by :Sikh FoundationNew Delhiwww.sikhfoundation.in


Dedicatedto the Innocents

Killed inNovember 1984


Carnage Nov84(A Singular Genocide of its kind)

The Carnage Nov84 qualifies to go down in the history, as the most cruelatrocity ever inflicted on the mankind. Thousands of law abiding innocent citizenswere mercilessly slaughtered in broad day light on the streets of Delhi and otherplaces, not by any foreign invaders but by own countrymen abetted by theauthorities, the protectors of Civil Society.

The victims, sons of the soil, a tiny minority (Sikhs) of our Nation, a communitywith a proud record of unmatched sacrifices spread over five centuries of theirexistence for the cause of motherland and civil society.

The revenge killings, were State sponsored, as two Sikh Security Guards,deeply hurt and provoked by the full scale Army assault, (Operation Blue Star) onGolden Temple, had assassinated the then Prime Minister. The assassins, one waskilled in this scuffle with security man and the other was legally punished with theaward of Death penalty.

But, the killers of thousands of Sikhs all over India, about 3000 in Delhi alone,even after 30 years of Carnage have gone unpunished. The souls of the innocentvictims would be crying for Justice, denied thus for.

The Government of India would do well, to atone for the failure of thethen Rulers in Nov84 to protect lives and property of a large number of itsinnocent Citizens in Nov84.

Maj. Gen.(R) M.S. Chadha

President The Sikh Forum


Message

I appreciate that the "Sikh Forum" is planning to release commemorativevolume of its publication on the occasion of 30th anniversary of Sikh Genocide ofNovember 1984. "November 1984" is black chapter in the History of Sikhs in Delhiand elsewhere in the country. In November 1984 thousands of men, women andchildren were massacred and burnt to death their houses were torched. burningtyres were put around their neck, shops and houses were looted. Goons and Riotersunder the patronage of their political bosses were searching & trying to kill as manyinnocent Sikhs as possible so that they could appease their bosses. There was acomplete anarchy & failure of law and order machinery. Provocative speeches bysome Politicians aggravated the situation. They even provided lists of Sikh residentsto their touts to kill them. Justice has not been given to the victims of 1984 Anti Sikhcarnage. Our wounds are still green and the Govt. has done nothing to heal them.Most of the killers are still roaming free and none of the politicians responsible forthese riots have been punished. As the famous saying goes "Justice delayed is justicedenied", thirty years have been passed but Sikh Community still continues strugglefor justice to the breaved and affected persons.

I appreciate your efforts to work for the cause of justice, protection, of humanrights and strengthening the secular values. I pray to ` Akal Purakh Waheguru' to giveyou strength and courage to continue your efforts relentlessly. I am sure this publicationwill be an eye opener and the younger generation who is not aware of these incidentswill be enlightened.

Manjit Singh G.K.President,

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee


Unforgettable 1984

I clearly remember that on 31 October 2014 I was in Sanaa the capital ofNorth Yemen as part of the official delegation of the state visit of the President ofIndia to that country. Early in the morning a telephone call came from Air Vice MarshalR.S.Naidu the Military Secretary to the President of India that everybody has toreach the airport as the President has cancelled the State visit and was going to India..When we reached the airport the President also reached after some time alongwith the President of Yemen. Immediately on special Air India aircraft we proceededtowards Delhi.I immediately went to the cabin of Giani ji and there he told me thatShri Alexander who was the Principal Secretary of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi hadcalled him and had informed that the PM has been shot by her bodyguards and shehas been taken to the hospital. Nothing more was disclosed to Giani ji. After comingout of the Presidents cabin I briefed the media contingent about the happenings inNew Delhi. Prabhu Chawla ,Sardar Satinder Singh , Inderjit and other Journalistsstarted forming their opinions .Prabhu Chawla and Satinder Singh said that IndiraGandhi must have died in the shootout as she has been shot from close range by thebody guards.

Giani Ji discussed the future course of action with his Secretary and RomeshBhandri the than Foreign Secretary . Giani Ji had made up his mind to appoint ShriRajiv Gandhi as the Prime Minister and he disclosed this to the Journalists .As therewas no facility of telephone in the aircraft during those days so no further informationwas forthcoming .The special aircraft of the President landed at Delhi airport at16:00 Hrs. From airport he went to AIIMS and normal convoy of officers in carsfollowed .The security on the route was less than expected . My car was fourth inthe convoy of the President and when we were passing through R.K.Puram somemiscreants were seen to be shouting slogans .They immediately rushed to the carand started hitting my car with lathis and threw a burning torch inside the car but myalert driver immediately threw it out and drove the car out of the harms way towardsRashtrapati Bhawan.I was saved with grace of Akaal Purkh .No policeman came tohelp us at that time . During those times our drivers used to wear turbans .WhenGiani Ji after visiting Shrimati Indira Gandhi came to his car ,slogans were beingraised against him and the mob was closing in on his car .The security detachment of


the President cleared the way for the car with great difficulty .Immediately afterreaching Rashtrapati Bhawan he summoned the Vice President R. Venkataraman andsent him to All India Radio to announce the death of Shrimati Indira Gandhi. At 18:00Hrs Shri Rajiv Gandhi was administered the Oath and was appointed Prime Ministeralong with four other Cabinet Ministers including Buta Singh.

At about 20:00 hrs I started receiving telephone calls that anti Sikh mob wason the rampage targeting Sikhs and their properties. And there was hue and cry allover .I immediately went to Giani jis room and in the room and there were presenthis daughter Dr Gurdip Kaur and Sardar Kulwant Singh Private Secretary .He wassurprised initially but when complete report was given to him , the seriousness ofthe situation dawned on him .I came back to my house and throughout the night Iwas getting reports of atrocities .In the morning I was informed by Kulwant Singhthat till late night Giani Ji tried to contact the Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi but invain.This is very surprising as few hours ago he was administered oath and wasappointed as PM by him. This fact was recently confirmed by Dr Gurdip Kaur thedaughter of the President who was present at Rashtrapati Bhawan when the situationwas unfolding.She also confirmed that the President was helpless.Next day thesituation became worse as there was large scale genocide of the Sikhs and thedestruction of their home and properties. The situation in the outer areas wasworst and even spread to the posh areas of Delhi. The Sikhs were attacked verysystematically and killed by burning them alive. The Historians compared it with thegenocide done by Nadir Shah centuries back in Delhi. The Gurudwaras in theColonies were burnt down and the police was no where to be seen. The police wasassisting the mob in targeting the Sikhs and was seen to be attacking the Sikhs whowere defending themselves.

I remember that I.K.Gujral,Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh and General J.S.Arorahad come to the Rashtrapati Bhawan and painted a very grim picture.They asked forthe intervention of the President . They also met the Home Minister P. NarsimhaRao.The whole Government was busy in the funeral arrangements and nobodybothered about the Sikhs.Even the Sikhs belonging to Congress Party were attackedwhile on way to Teen Murti Bhawan to pay their last respects to Shrimati IndiraGandhi .On that day Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib was also attacked and the granthisinside were killed. The gate of the Gurudwara was burnt,It was all visible fromRashtrapati Bhawan. The whole day Army was not called and only in the evening theArmy was asked for by the Govt. Ironically it was called from Meerut and not fromDelhi Cantt., It only arrived on 2nd November 1984 the next day. And it is notknown that who was responsible for the delay till date .When the Army arrived itdid only flag march and no shoot at sight orders were given .


I remember that at that hour of difficulty B.J.P leaders Shri V.K.Malhotra andMadan Lal Khurana had met the President and told him that Sikh passengers in trainswere being dragged and killed at Saifabad and Ghaziabad railway stations. MalhotraJi took team of volunteers to Saifabad and saved many Sikhs. For three days Delhiwas orphaned and there was no sign of law and order , thousands of Sikhs weremassacred in Delhi and at other places in India only because they were wearingturbans .Many Sikh army Officers and Other Ranks were also killed in the Trains andother places.

This cruel reality cannot be forgotten and there are many unansweredquestions that

* Why innocent were massacred?

* Why the Police connived with the mob ?

* Why the army was not called immediately ?

* Who were the conspirators in the genocide of Sikhs?

* We are still waiting for the answers !

Tarlochan Singh

Ex M.P . &

Chairman Minority Commission


The Nightmare ofFirst Week of November 1984

Some dates remain permanently fixed in your memory. In my case it startedon October 31, 1984. I was then a judge in Delhi High Court. I was coming back inthe evening after inspecting Shahdara Courts when I heard the tragic news of killingof Mrs. Indira Gandhi. It was a shock to the whole nation, because notwithstandingthe gory murder of Gandhiji, India had not believed in political assassination. Butthen individuals reactions to circumstances are difficult to fathom. The killing wasdone by two body guard posted at Mrs. Gandhi residence. One of them wasimmediately shot on the spot. The other persons along with one other were alsofound to be involved in the murder and were convicted. It was possibly a continuationof commutative effect of equally tragic and unpardonable decision of Mrs. Gandhi tohave sent army in the Golden Temple. The court found that there was only conspiracyby these three persons to kill Mrs. Gandhi. No other outside person was found tobe involved in conspiracy. But what followed assassination is a nightmare which willever haunt the nation it was the cold calculated murder generated by Congressparty in power resulting in the about 3000 Sikhs being butchered in cold blood. Thisunpardonable crime by a political Party, like that committed in Gujarat in 2002 willremain a permanent scar of shame on those who participated and encouraged it.

The situation outside was so horrible because the mobs were going roundDelhi targeting Sikhs there was total absence of law and order looting of Sikhhouses was openly done. Such was the unchecked situation that one of my colleaguein Delhi High Court, a Sikh judge and his family was accommodated in the lounge ofHigh Court, as we could not assure them safety and protection in their home whichwas hardly less then 1 K.m. from the High Court. The shame of this helplessness stillhaunts me.

I myself went to an area where my personal Secretary (a Sikh) and other HighCourt staff had their residences. Fortunately they unitedly look a determined standand the marauders were somehow kept away. Lajpat Rai Bhawan, Society had openedoffice in its premises for riot victims. There volunteers were being sent to the cityand trying to help Sikh victims as much as possible by making their arrangement fortheir safety. I used to go in the evening to Lajpat Bhawan to participate in the


programme for collection of clothes and other materials and for detailing visits ofvolunteers to the affected localities.

Police was not recording FIRs and placing all kinds of hindrances. An applicationwas moved complaining about this before me to complain. It is correct that normallyFIR have to be registered in the police station which has jurisdiction over that particularlocality. But in that fearful situation it was hardly possible for Sikhs from variousareas to go to separate police stations to get FIR recorded. So I issued notice andtold the government Advocate that I am ordering that all FIRs which had alreadybeen collected throughout Delhi by People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) will betaken to one police station (which the government may designate) and filed there.After this it will be for the government to distribute these FIRs to therespective police stations. To be honest, I knew my order may not have been strictlylegal but then circumstances were so extraordinary that not to have so actedwould have been worse it would have cast a shadow on the strength of the courtswhich are expected to come to the aid of oppressed (at all times). The character andstrength of the courts is judged alone by the fact as to how they act in suchextraordinary circumstances.

Another instance arose when people were demanding the appointment of aCommission to enquire into 1984 killings. A PIL was filed which came up before myDivision Bench. The then Attorney General appeared for the Union Governmentand argued against. I however felt that it was important matter and needed to beexamined at regular hearing. My colleague Wad J. was also of the same opinion. Sowe fixed the matter for regular hearing after a short vacation of High Court when itreopens. But such was the panic in the government circles that undue pressure wasput on the then High Court Chief Justice. The result was that when High Courtopened after vacation, I found that my roster had been changed I was now put oncriminal side the result was obvious the matter could not be heard by me. Thematter was then heard by another Bench and the petition dismissed. But such wasthe indignant public reaction that the Government itself appointed Justice RanganathMisra Commission. But its findings shocked every impartial observer. As a matter offact the conduct of Union Government was such as to infuse no confidence rightfrom the beginning.

A committee of eminent citizens was also formed. Its members amongst othersincluded Justice S. M. Sikri former Chief Justice of India, Mr. Govind Narain formerHome Secretary, union of India. There was total Non cooperation from thegovernment yet the committee came to certain prima facie findings, where itcondemned that available police force was not used in an effective manner. The


Committee wrote to Shri Rajiv Gandhi, the Prime Minister seeking a meeting so asto discuss important points with a view to emphasize that official Enquiry Commissionbe appointed as to instill public confidence. But surprisingly Rajiv Gandhi did noteven reply nor gave interview to such an eminent committee can you imagine howmuch the atmosphere was vitiated by partisan ends even at the highest level. Theexpected hollowness of the Ranganathan report corroborated the fears of all of usabout the partisan role played by then Congress Central Government.

The various question raised by PUCL in its report of 1984 have not evenbeen answered by now at least the present government has no excuse not todisclose the truth. PUCL in its report gave the following finding which show thealmost total partisan working of the administration, making this tragedy still moretragic. The report said;

Men at the top in the administration and the ruling party displayed repeatedly acurious lack of concern often bordering on deliberate negligence of duty andresponsibility throughout the period of October 31, to November, 4. The newlysworn in Home Minister P.V. Narasimha Roa was said to have assured the BJP leaderAtal Behari Vajpayee on October 31 evening that everything would be broughtunder control within a couple of hours. Gautam Kaul, Additional Commissioner ofPolice in front of the All India Medical Institute, referring to the disturbances whichwere just breaking out, said: We cannot deal with the situation of this nature.Strangely enough, even after this, Mr. Kaul has been made Additional Commissioner,Security - Inspite of such warnings given well in advance.

Soon after the assassination (October 31), we heard from a reliable source,a meeting were held at 1 Safdarjung Road, the Prime Ministers official residencewhere the then Lt. Governor P G Gavai, a Congress (I) leader M L Fotedar and thePolice Commissioner among others, met. A Senior Police Officer present at themeeting expressed the view that the army should be called as otherwise there wouldbe a holocaust. No attention was paid to the view.

On November 1, when almost all of Delhi was aflame, an opposition MP rangup a Minister in Rajiv Gandhis new cabinet, and the Home Minister, NarasimhaRao, to inform them about the situation in the city and the need for army to becalled and curfew would be imposed. (Several citizens including some seniorgovernment officials went to the President of India on the afternoon of November 1,and they were told the Government was still considering whether to call out thearmy). But our experience on November 1 tells a different story.

The report continues as already mentioned earlier, till late night there wereno signs of either curfew or army, while miscreants were on the rampage in front of


the police. In the heart of the city Cannaught Circus Sikh owned shops werebeing set on fire right under the nose of heavy para-military and police pickets. Welater heard that the DC of Faridabad had asked for army on November 1, but troopsarrived only on November 3.

None of these questions have been answered so when Nanavati Commissionwas appointed. I wished its terms of reference had been on the pattern of Truth andConciliation Commission appointed in South Africa by Nelson Mandela. I still feelthat this aspect should be examined by the Central Government because I am of thefirm opinion that apart from punishing the guilty it is important to cleanse the airand to uphold democratic values and this can be done only when all questions areanswered frankly by the government to the satisfaction of those who suffered andstill continue to do so This is the mandate of Universal Human Rights.

Rajindar SacharChief Justice (Retd.)

High Court of Delhi, New DelhiChairperson Prime Ministers High Level Committee

on Status of Muslims (Ex.)UN Special Reporter on Housing

Member, U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention ofDiscrimination and Protection of Minorities (Ex.)

President, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) India (Ex.)


Critical Observation on Sikh Carnage

I was the Additional DCP for Delhis North District when riots broke outfollowing the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by members of her securitydetail. I believe with the limited resources and staff at my command, I tried to protectmembers of the Sikh community and control the rioting mobs from targeting theirvictims. There was hardly any inter-district communication other than someinformation trickling down from the PCR-net of rioting in other parts of Delhisimultaneously! I would have expected police in these parts too to have reacted andcontrolled the mob-violence as warranted.

In their book When a Tree Shook Delhi senior editor Manoj Mitta andSenior Advocate H.S. Phoolka have to an extent praised my role during the riots forably controlling the violence that erupted outside the Sis Ganj gurudwara on ChandniChowk in the citys old quarters, despite having just a few men with me.

Unlike his counterparts in other parts of Delhi, Pereira did not disarm the Sikhs andleave them at the mercy of the mobs. Instead, he persuaded them to go inside thegurudwara by promising to provide them security. He kept his word and dealt withthe mobs sternly despite having a meagre force at his command.

It took a lot of courage and ingenuity to do so. Once he got the Sikhs to go indoors,the mobs from both directions were emboldened to pelt stones with greater vigour.All that Pereira and his men could do in return was threaten to fire with theirrevolvers.

In a gritty display of policing, they managed to keep the crowd at a safe distancefrom the gurdwara till a small reinforcement came along with tear smoke ammunition.

When the officer saw a mob looting a watch shop owned by a Sikh at ChandniChowk, he ordered his men to fire at the miscreants. A constable fired three rounds,killing one rioter instantly.

Driving home the rule of law, Pereira announced then and there a reward of Rs. 200to the constable, making sure the reward was heard by everyone as he announced


it on a loud hailer. The firing and the reward had the desired - and expected - effect.Sis Ganj Gurudwara was saved as the mobs melted away.

Even after thirty yeas as the dust refuses to settle over the carnage of 1984,my own thoughts go back to that day 30-years ago when I almost strangled the firstjournalist who strayed into Delhis north district and into my path, just five days afterthe carnage had commenced. Where were you guys all these days? was the questionI yelled at him. Where were you when I opened fire, killed people, before peoplestarted killing Sikhs!?

I have held my silence in all these years, the only statement ever given by mebeing before the Ved Marwah in-house police departments fact-finding enquiry then directed by SS Jog, who replaced Subash Tandon as police Commissioner soonafter the riots.

Despite the fact that I deposed before no Government appointed Commission,nor was I considered worthy to be summoned by any that enquired into the Sikhriots, tid-bits did appear in the media about some of us having done our duty asexpected. That when Delhi Police was in the dock facing Parliamentary castigationfor the carnage, it was the name of yours truly that headed the list weakly presentedto the powers that be, to help bolster up an undefendable Delhi-Police case inParliament. This, in an attempt to tell that Delhi police did act, that officers did showinitiative without waiting for orders from superiors! One is told there is proof tothis effect in the record of Parliamentary debates in the immediate aftermath of theriots, and in Reports of some of the earlier Commissions, now also available on theinternet.

The journalists answer to my yellings was a candid well, nothing happened inthe North at least not in the scale as things occurred elsewhere in Delhi. Theperception, to an extent acceptable, though factually and substantially wrong! Thingsdid happen in North Delhi, but were controlled to the extent possible, by a handfulof committed police officers and men who acted with tremendous grit and courageto justify the uniform they wore. None of these who controlled the riots and saved

lives of Sikhs got any recognition for it, nor were they rewarded as were perhaps some of our colleagues elsewhere; some evenwith gallantry medals for killing scared and paranoid Sikhs whounfortunately opened fire on the police in their own self-defence.

Maxwell PereiraIndian Police Service (Retd.)


1984 riots

30 yrs. of Commissions & Omissions

Why it is relevant even after three decades to talk of the denial ofjustice to the victims of the anti-Sikh riots. Apart from justice, punishmentis meant to act as a deterrent, so a message goes that no one is abovelaw.

In January 1985 in an interview to a leading magazine on the anti-Sikh riots,then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi stated: Inquiry would not help as it would rake upissues that are really dead. He was commenting on the demand for inquiry into themassacre of 3,000 Sikhs in the Capital of India and about 7,000 across the country.

For Rajiv Gandhi the issue was dead within two months of the massacrethat took place in day light on the streets of Delhi. Between the noon of November1 and November 3, a Sikh was killed every minute. During these 2,880 minutes,2,733 (official figures) Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone.

The Home Minister had given a statement in Parliament that 600 Sikhs werekilled across India. In response to this statement, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Leader ofthe Opposition, had released a list of 2,700 killed in Delhi alone. Over 50,000 peoplewere languishing in relief camps.

Probe begins

Six months later, the Rajiv Gandhi government agreed to appoint a Commissionof Inquiry as a part of political negotiation between Sant Longowal, then Akali Dalpresident, and Rajiv Gandhi. For any democratic government, enforcing the rule oflaw should be paramount, but for the Rajiv government it was only a political moveto appoint a Commission of Inquiry.

The terms of the Mishra Commission of Inquiry, which was constituted witha sitting Supreme Court Judge, J Ranganath Mishra, were not the usual terms of


reference which are to find out how the massacre happened; who took part in it;who are to be prosecuted; role of law-enforcing agencies; and action to be takenagainst them. In short-to fix accountability for the death of innocent citizens. On thecontrary, the only term of reference of the commission was to enquire into allegationsif the violence was organized.

We requested Akali Dal leaders to get the terms of reference changed, butfor reasons best known to them, this did not happen. The commission began itsproceedings with these flawed objectives. Human rights groups were left with nochoice but to participate in these proceedings.

An umbrella organisation of human rights groups was constituted for thispurpose named the Citizens Justice Committee (CJC). With Justice SM Sikri, formerChief Justice of the Supreme Court, as its president and I as secretary. The MishraCommission started its proceedings in July 1985 and submitted its report in August1986. The report was published and tabled in Parliament in February 1987. In hisreport, Mishra stated that it was not a part of his terms of reference to identify anyperson. These findings came as a bombshell as after holding a long and tedious inquiryfor over a year, he simply recommended the formation of three other committeesto do the real job.

Earlier, the Police Commissioner had deputed Additional Police CommissionerVed Marwah to inquire into the role of the police. Ironically, the allegation of policecomplicity of the Commissioner of Police and Senior Additional Commissionerswere assigned to an inquiry by an officer junior to them, nonetheless Marwah didconduct the inquiry as mandated.

Rahul Bedi, a journalist, had filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court in thethird week of November 1984 on how two seniormost Additional Commissionersof Police and a Deputy Commissioner of Police ignored the information given tothem by him [Rahul Bedi] about the Trilokpuri massacre, which had resulted in thekilling of 400 Sikhs. The government took the stand before the High Court that theVed Marwah inquiry had been constituted and therefore the court should not entertainthe writ petition. Unfortunately, going by the assurance of the government, the courtdismissed the petition.

In October 1985, Marwah completed his inquiry, however, he was directednot to submit the report. It became clear why, when he later informed the mediathat he had identified many police officers for complicity and gross negligence. Hewas also directed to hand over all his evidence and papers to the Mishra Commission,who would identify the guilty police officers. Marwah passed on all papers to the


Mishra Commission. However, certain important papers out of that record are missing.When I asked Justice Mishra in his chamber about those papers, he informed methat those had been destroyed by the police under instructions of the government.

Mishra in his report refused to do his job and identify the guilty whereasMarwah, who identified guilty law enforcers, was asked to discontinue his work. Yet,regarding the killings in Kanpur, Mishra held then District Magistrate Brijendra Yadavresponsible for the killing of 125 Sikhs in Kanpur. An Army officer, Captain Bareth,had submitted his report to the Mishra Commission that Yadav stopped the Armyfrom taking any action against the mob which was indulging in killing, looting andarson in the presence of the Army. The Army wanted to take action but Yadav orderedit not to. The Mishra Commission recommended action against Yadav, but interestingly,Yadav got three promotions after that and retired from the post equivalent to theChief Secretary.

Curiously, Justice Ranganath Mishra became the Chief Justice of the SupremeCourt and was made a Rajya Sabha MP by the Congress after retirement.

In February 1987, when the Mishra Commission report was tabled inParliament, almost two years and four months had passed since the carnage, buteven the number of citizens killed was not known. We had submitted a list of 3,878before the commission but Mishra recommended the appointment of anothercommittee to ascertain the number of killings.

The Ahuja Committee was appointed to do this job. Ahuja submitted its reportin August 1987 and put the figure at 2,733 in Delhi alone. It took the largest democracyin the world three years to even put a figure on its citizens who had been murderedin a span of just two days.

More committees, little action

The other committee appointed on the recommendation of the MishraCommission was the Kapoor-Mittal Committee to inquire into the role of the policewhich was really the unfinished task of Ved Marwah. In 1990, this committee identified72 police officers for connivance and gross negligence and recommended forthwithdismissal of 30 police officers without any inquiry. None of these officers has beendismissed and not even a major penalty has been awarded to any one of them. Thiscommittee also found the allegations of Rahul Bedi correct and had recommendedaction against Sewa Dass and Nikhil Kumar. Far from action, they were promoted,not once but thrice.


Among the three police officers named by Rahul Bedi were DCP Sewa Dasswho got three promotions and retired as Special Commissioner of Police andAdditional Commissioners HC Jatav and Nikhil Kumar. Nikhil Kumar also got threepromotions and retired as DGP. Later, he became a Congress MP.

The other committees were to recommend the registration of cases. Threesuccessive committees were appointed to complete this task-Jain-BanerjeeCommittee, Poti-Rosha Committee and Jain-Aggarwal Committee. These committeesrecommended registration of cases, but their reports were not fully implemented.

The Dhillon Committee was appointed to recommend measures for therehabilitation of victims. This committee recommended that business establishmentswhich had insurance cover but were not given insurance claim on the technicalground that riots are not covered under the policy, should be paid compensation.The government did not accept this recommendation and all such insurance claimswere rejected in spite of having insurance cover.

The ninth committee-Narula Committee- was appointed in December 1993by the Madan Lal Khurana government and this committee recommended theregistration of cases against HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler. Therecommendations were not fully implemented.

The 10th committee was the Nanavati Commission, which was appointed inJanuary 2000. It submitted its report in February 2005. On its recommendation,cases were registered against Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, and compensation wasannounced. The Prime Minister package amounting to Rs 717 crore was declared.One of the clauses of the package was to give employment to the children of victims,which has not been implemented yet, and almost Rs 200 crore from the said amountis yet to be distributed. Of this, the Modi government has declared Rs 166 crore tobe distributed to victims by giving them Rs 5 lakh for each person killed. Under thelaw, punishment and compensation both are a must, one is not a substitute for theother.

In February 2014, the Arvind Kejriwal government appointed an SIT to reopenand reinvestigate 237 cases which had been closed by the police as untraced andnever sent for trial to the court. After Kejriwals resignation, this SIT was stalled bythe UPA government and now continues to be stalled by the NDA government.


Punishment as deterrent

Why is it relevant even 30 years later? Punishment to the guilty is meant todeliver justice and also to act as a deterrent for the future. A message needs to gothat no one is above law in this great democracy.

But for our successive governments, this issue is not on their agenda. ForRajiv Gandhis Congress government it was dead since January 1985 itself, and nowfor the BJP-Akali government, it has been dead since the last five months. They havenot taken any step to secure punishment for guilty and to deliver justice.

When we talk about time having elapsed, I remember Simon Wiensental, thefamous Nazi hunter and a victim of the Holocaust, who followed Nazis for 63years (1942-2005) till his death for the atrocities committed by them against Jews.Ustasha DinkoSakic, a Nazi commandant, was prosecuted and sentenced 50 yearsafter the World War, as crimes against life have no limitation in any country. We willpursue justice with the same spirit, for it is innocent citizens who are dead, not thelaw.

What the probe panels recommended

Justice GT Nanavati Commission : It enhanced cash compensation tovictims, but no criminal cases were registered. It indicted several Congress leaders.

Ved Marwah Commission : Nearly completed inquiry, but was directednot to proceed further as Ranganath Misra Commission had been appointed.

Misra Commission : Records of the Marwah Commission were transferredto it, but it was alleged Marwahs handwritten notes containing vital informationwere not given to the commission. It stated it was not part of the term of referenceto identify any person and recommended the formation of three committees.

RC Shrivaastav Committee : Looked into police mechanism to preventdisturbances. Suggestion for three more police sub-divisions in Delhi and 25 policestations was accepted, and Rs 31 crore sanctioned.

Dhillon Committee : Headed by Gurdial Singh Dhillon, it recommendedbusinesses that had insurance but were not compensated as riots were not coveredby insurers should be compensated. The government did not accept it; suggestion oncash compensation was accepted.

RK Ahuja Committee : Put the death toll in Delhi at 2,733.


Kapoor-Mittal Committee : Appointed to probe into the conduct of thepolice. While Kapoor submitted a general report, Mittal identified a dozen policeofficials who had done a creditable job and recommended action against 72 policepersonnel.

Jain-Banerjee Committee : It recommended cases, but none was registered.Sajjan Kumars co-accused obtained a stay on the committees functioning.

Potti-Rosha Committee : It recommended the registration of cases againstSajjan Kumar and examined over 1,000 affidavits and recommended 30 cases forprosecution. Sajjan Kumar secured anticipatory bail. The members resigned.

Jain-Aggarwal Committee : Recommended 48 cases, including againstCongress leaders HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar, Dharamdas Shastri and Jagdish Tytler. Itwound up in 1993 with no action taken.

Narula Committee : Wanted cases against Bhagat, Sajjan, and Tytler.

Only 30 convictions in 30 years

Death toll in Delhi

As many as 2,733 people died at the hands of frenzied mobs in the Capital ofthe country.

Conviction rate

A mere 13 cases of murder have seen convictions and only 30 persons havebeen convicted in the past 30 years.

Cases registered, and closed

In Delhi, 587 cases were registered, of which 237 were closed by the policeand marked as untraced (legalese for no progress in investigation). A SpecialInvestigation Team formed by Arvind Kejriwal during his short stint as the ChiefMinister of Delhi was meant to reopen every such case. Of these 30 personsconvicted, almost all are now on bail or their convictions have been condoned byhigher courts, says Jarnail Singh, author of the book I Accuse... The Anti-Sikh Violenceof 1984.


Why no action ?

The Kapoor-Mittal Committee, appointed in February 1987 to inquire intothe delinquencies and conduct of the police, recommended action against 72 policepersonnel and the dismissal of six officials, but nothing has happened. Why? asksauthor Jarnail Singh, who lives in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi.

Compensation, less for some

In 1984, the compensation for those killed was Rs 10,000. In 1987, another Rs10,000 was added. In 1996, Bhajan Kaur won a case against the Delhi Administrationand Rs 3.3 lakh was given, but only to Delhi victims. In 2006, Rs 3.5 lakh was given asrelief following the Nanavati commission report. The Modi government has announcedanother Rs 5 lakh. Meaning, affected families in Delhi would get Rs 12 lakh for eachof their dead and those outside Delhi would get Rs 8.7 lakh.

No balm

In case of injuries, each victim was given Rs 2,000 in 1984. Another Rs 1.25lakh was paid after the Nanavati Commissions recommendation.

Property loss

In 1984, property losses were compensated with Rs 10,000 in case of totalloss and Rs 5,000 in case of partial damage. It was enhanced to Rs 90,000 and Rs45,000, respectively, following the Nanavati Commission report.

H. S. PhoolkaHuman rights lawyer

who has been fighting legal battlesfor the anti-Sikh riot victims


Irrefutable Facts : Carnage 84(Forgiveness is our Creed Forget we never)

Numerous researchers, observers, commentators have written a lot on theunabated and unchecked gruesome violence against the Sikh community in the firstweek of November 1984 after the tragic assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi, Manyare writing and expressing concern even after 30 years of the carnage. The reasonsare obvious. What happened in 1984 in Delhi and some other parts of the countrywas not only unprecedented and outrageous, but was also abetted and supported bythe state authorities. The victims after three decades of the event the victims are stillawaiting for the justice and redress.

Inspite of governments efforts to suppress the truth, various reporters andinvestigations conducted by civil society organisations like PUCL, PUDR, Citizens forDemocracy, Peoples relief committee, the facts collected by journalists and alsofrom government appointed commissions / committees, by now it is clear that overfour fateful days about 10000 Sikhs were hunted, humiliated and massacred in anorganised killing spree. In Delhi alone over 3000 Sikhs were murdered, women gangraped, properties looted and over 70 Gurudwaras burnt. The carnage was so allpervasive that no Sikh irrespective of his position felt safe. In fact the process startedwith stoning on the convoy of none other than the President of India, Giani ZailSingh.

A number of investigative and analytical reports have brought out that thethen ruling party, Congress(I) and to an extent governments assertion, that theviolence was an unplanned response to the assassination of Prime Minister IndiraGandhi by two Sikh bodyguards, holds no ground. Investigations have revealed thatthere was an impeccable pattern according to which the violence erupted and thatthe mobs like disciplined cadres kept to that model and implicitly obeyed the directionsof their masters, the Congress-I functionaries.

In a recent article in Caravan, Hartosh Bal quoting Avtar Singh Gill the formerSecretary Ministry of Petroleum, brings out that the violence was indeed orchestratedand that the clearance came from the top. Gill is quoted as saying:


on November 1, 1984 Lalit Suri of Lalit Hotels who used to come and see meoften, dropped by. He was the errand boy for Rajiv Gandhi and since he often neededsome work done, he was close to me. He came to me in the ministry and said,clearance has been given by Arun Nehru for the killings in Delhi and killings havestarted. The strategy is to catch Sikh the youth, putting a tyre around his neck, dousehim with kerosene and set him afire.

This will calm the anger of the Hindus.

Gill is also quoted as saying that, Suri told me that I should be careful though myname is not in the voters list, the Delhi Gurudwara voters list. They (rioters) havebeen provided this list.

This will end on the third (of November).

This reveleation confirms the observations made in the report, Truth AboutDelhi Violence prepared by Citizens for Democracy in January 1985. It says :

Several meetings were held all over Delhi- Central, Outer and Trans Yamunaarea - in the late hours of the 31st October 84 to give final touches, as it were, toevery minute detail that nothing was left out to successfully exterminate the Sikhs. Itwas as if that brigades were going to attack an enemy territory.

From collection of kerosene and incendiary material for dousing the menbefore they were burnt;

to collection of killers both from villages outside the areas of attack as well as fromamong the more amenable neighbours;

from fixing the hour of attack to be launched simultaneously everywhere in Delhi inthe forenoon between 9 and 11 AM ;

to organising the attack and deciding if it should be repetitive or two pronged as ina war depending on the size of the mob ;

from identifying the jhuggis and houses of the Sikhs from amongst the forest ofjhuggies and houses occupied by thousands of non-Sikhs;

to disarming the Sikhs and dissuading them from taking out their Prabhat Pheri; fromfixing the sequence of the targets of attack;

to flouting the rumours - everything was done with amazing precision.

Gurudwaras were first to be attacked in every area of Delhi according to theplans, because they were supposed to be the arsenals of Sikhs and also the symbol oftheir collective faith and courage, so they had to be destroyed first.


The report, Who Are The Guilty prepared by Peoples Union of Civil Libertiesand Peoples Union for Democratic Rights under Justice S.M. Sikri and Justice V.M.Tarkunde, in December 1984 itself said,

We were told by the local eyewitnesses in all the areas we visited that well knowncongress (l) leaders and workers led and directed the arsonist and the local cadresof the congress(I) identified the Sikh houses and shops.

A senior police official who for understandable reasons does not want to benamed printed out the shop signs are either in Hindi or English. How do youexpect the illiterate arsonist to know whether these shops belonged to Sikhs orHindus, unless they were identified to them by someone who is either educated ora local person. In South Delhi buses of the DTC were used by the miscreants tomove from place to place in their murderous journey. How could DTC allow itsbuses to be used by criminals.

Manoj Mitta and H.S.Phoolka in their book When a Tree Shook in Delhidescribe the details about the State support, connivance or even the sponsorship ofthe carnage. Justification was provided by none other than the Prime Minister RajivGandhi who in a public speech said When a big tree falls the earth beneath it isbound to shake

As a good number of reports, books and articles have exposed the truthrepetition of the events and processes is not our intention here. Four things areclear, One what happened in November 1984. was not a communal riot as it wasnot one religious community versus other, it was state assisted massacre, Two, theCongress(I) was actively involved in that, Three, the administration and the police didnot do any thing to protect the Sikhs rather they helped the rioters, And Fourth,there was deliberate delay in calling the military to deal with the situation.

Since justice has yet not been done, victims not redressed and lessons notlearnt, it should be ensured issue does not die. Sikh Forum and many other involvedcivil society organizations and some crusaders for justice have been making use ofevery possible opportunity to raise the issue.

The Thirtieth Anniversary gives us and the Nation an opportunity forintrospection. Half hearted apologies by government that too under pressure andunkept assurances for justice only adds to the betrayal by the Government. Needlessto say even after 30 years the hurt and the anger and sense of betrayal remains inthe community. The perpetrators, abettors and defaulting policemen remain not onlyfree but in many cases have been rewarded. Investigation agencies continue to bemanipulated to save them. More serious, is the fact that it is not that state has not


been able to deliver justice but, state itself has made all possible efforts to see thatperpetrators are not brought to book.

Late S. Patwant Singh wrote, by refusing to send to the courts the few Congressfunctionaries who were identified as colluding in the mass murder of the Sikhs, theUnion Government has betrayed a breathtaking lack of balance as of saving the skinsof a handful of criminal elements within its folds is more important than the outragehurt and disillusionment of 20 million Sikhs.

We take this opportunity to reiterate the demand and concerns of thosewho believe in the imperatives of democracy - rule of law, equality for all, respect forhuman rights and above all justice, that those involved in the carnage, and who backedthe same, how so ever influential and resourceful they may be, are identified andpenalized. No number of Commissions, inquiries or promises can either assuage thegrief of those whose loved ones perished. No matter how long ago the crime (murder)took place and how much more time it takes it must be subjected to Law.

Hindustan Times in an Editorial, in August 2005 expressed, Justice in thisinstance is not merely about revenge, but the principle of moral rightness whichought to define the character of the society we live in. It is about the fair treatmentof the hapless who were slaughtered for no fault of their own.

On this 30th anniversary, let us make it clear that we must not allow theanger to die down and keep the momentum for the cause of justice, harmoniouscoexistence and protection of human rights. This is necessary for prevention of suchlike atrocities on innocent people, which continue in various ways.

Perhaps it can be the most appropriate

tribute to the martyrs of 1984 carnage.

Dr. Amarjit Singh NarangFounder Member,

The Sikh Forum


Memories of 1984

Let me begin my story from my diary of 1984, to be precise that of March 24.On that day I escorted my teacher Dr.Ganda Singh to the Rashtrapati Bhawan wherehe was to be conferred Padma Bhushan by Giani Zail Singh, the then President ofIndia. In the glittering ceremony, I noticed Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister,Members of her Cabinet and other dignitaries and distinguished citizens who wereto be honoured for their contribution in different fields. After the ceremony whenwe were going out for tea, Dr. Ganda Singh, who had some eye problem, banged intoglass door of the Ashoka Hall and his Padma Medal and spectacles fell on the floor.Rajiv Gandhi, who was walking next to him, quickly picked up the two items andpassed them on to him and gently escorted him till the tea was over.

Later that evening, Guru Nanak Foundation arranged a reception for Dr. GandaSingh which was attended by almost all prominent Sikhs in the national capital withS. Khushwant Singh as the main speaker. While writing my diary for that day, I feltproud that the Sikh community which constituted less than 2% of the Indian populationhas done so well in independent India. Some of the prominent names that came tomy mind were those of Baldev Singh, first Defence Minister of independent India,Surjit Singh Majithia, Deputy Defence Minister of India, Swaran Singh as the Ministerfor Defence and later External Affairs, Hukam Singh and Gurdial Singh Dhillon asSpeakers of the Lok Sabha, Buta Singh, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Sport, Worksand Housing, Dr.Manmohan Singh as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, ArjanSingh and Dilbagh Singh as Chiefs of the Indian Air Force and many Sikhs in otherimportant positions. In spite of talk of grievances, some real and some imaginary,Sikhs were doing well in all walks of life, be it business, sports or services. Little couldI imagine that this best period in the history of the Sikh community would turn outto be the worst because of army action in the Golden Temple, killing of Prime Ministerof India, Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh body guards and countrywide anti-Sikhriots that followed.

On that fateful day I happened to be in Chandigarh for an official meetingwhere we had known that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was dead though a formalannouncement was made late that evening. Memory of Bhajan Lal Government in


Haryana frisking the Sikhs during the Asian Games being fresh in mind, I was advisednot to travel by car and instead take an AC bus with black window panes. WhenI reached the Inter State Bus Terminal of Delhi, I found the place deserted. While Imanaged to reach my home in Hauz Khas with some difficulty, what came as the firstshock was to see the Gurdwara Green Park set on fire. My family heaved a sigh ofrelief when I knocked at the door. In that group of 40 houses, I was the only turbanedSikh. My immediate neighbours all Hindus were more worried about my safety thanme. On the top floor a young boy had stocked soda water bottles and stones tokeep the mob away in case of any attack. Another neighbour who carried his servicerevolver offered to stay with our family the whole night to ensure that we were dulyprotected.

On the 1st of November when violence spread throughout the city as a resultof organized gangs taking over command of the anti-Sikh pogrom situation becamerather alarming. I was advised by my teacher Prof. Bipan Chandra to move to hishome in JNU who also arranged an official vehicle to pick me up with my family. I wastold that mob was checking all vehicles at the I.I.T. crossing, looking out for Sikhs andit was advisable for me to hide myself in a blanket and lie down in the leg space in theAmbassador Car with my wife and daughters occupying the back seats. My wife wasadvised to camouflage her identity by changing her dress. It was for the first timethat I found my distinct identity of which I always felt proud had become my liabilityin spite of my opposing militant activity in Punjab and fighting the ideology of hatethroughout my teaching career.

My daughters who faced this trauma for the first time could not understandas to what was happening in a secular country. My younger daughter asked as to whohad killed the Indian Prime Minister. Before I could answer, Bipan Chandra repliedIdeology of Hate. She was too young to understand that it was this ideology whichled to the division of India and later killing of Mahatma Gandhi who was opposed toany division on communal lines. That night I missed my sleep and kept on thinkinghow political parties use ideology of hate for electoral gains. What disturbed themost was the fact that Sikhs outside Panjab who for their own reasons did notsupport the militant movement in Panjab had become victims of mob violence forno fault of theirs. In spite of my best efforts I could not reconcile to the change ofSikh image from trusted lieutenants of the Indian State to potential threat to itsunity. I regretfully recalled how Punjab politics was communalized for electoral gainswith disastrous consequences for the Sikh community and the Indian State.

Next day we heard about the violence spreading to different parts of Delhiand other parts of the country and the police and State machinery mutely watching


this carnage. Later in the evening Gopi Arora, a senior civil servant who was closeconfidante of Rajiv Gandhi and was Secretary, Ministery of Information andBroadcasting, asked Bipan for his advice as to how to check growing violence. Bipansanswer was simple, You control the media. Let the T.V. and radio keep on announcingrioters being killed by the police. But H.K.L. Bhagat, who was the Minister forInformation and Broadcasting had other plans up his sleeves. On the contrary, hewanted to use the media to create mass hysteria against the Sikhs with an eye on theforthcoming Parliamentary elections with official machinery tacitly backing the mob,which was busy attacking Sikh houses and establishment, burning and looting theirproperties, killing innocent young men and raping helpless women. Mishra Commissionnoticed that when Mrs. Gandhis dead body was lying in state in Teen Murti, group ofpeople walking passed the body raised slogans Khoon ka Badla Khoon. Not onlythis was duly covered by countrys only television channel, the Doordarshan ,butrepeated for eighteen times for obvious reasons.

Attacks and pelting stones on the cars in the entourage of the President ofIndia, who rushed to A.I.I.M.S. soon after his return from Yemen and other incidentsof 31st October, 1984, are mentioned by Nanavati Commission as first signs ofpublic resentment resulting in angry outburst in Delhi, but what happened for threeconsecutive days and nights from 1st to 3rd November in the national capital in thepresence of heads of many countries who had joined in the national mourning could not have happened without a free hand given to the organized gangs consistingof party workers and criminal elements from different political outfits. Gangstersarmed with weapons of destruction like pistols, petroleum and other inflammablematerials surrounding hapless Sikhs inside their localities and houses points towardorganized pogrom. According to the testimony of General A.S. Vaidya, the then Chiefof the Army staff, 6100 soldiers were available in Delhi and he told General J.S.Jamwal that half of them could be deployed to assist the Delhi administration.According to Mishra Commission If troops had been called on the morning of 1st

November, 1984 and army columns moving in the streets properly, lives of at least2,000 people could have been saved. Not only army help was not taken, the policewas also allowed to shut their eyes and in some cases encouraged mob attacks onthe Sikhs in which activists from Congress, R.S.S. and B.J.P. freely participated. Accordingto Nanavati Commissions Report, There is enough material on record to showthat at many places police had taken away their (Sikhs) arms and other articles withwhich they could have defended themselves against the attacks by the mobs.

With more and more of evidence available with passage of time, it is becomingclear that instructions were given by those who engineered and supervised systematicattacks on the Sikhs as part of the pre-designed strategy. According to various


independent accounts, mobs at work in the national capital were well organized,they had list of Sikh homes provided to them by the organizers from Sikh voterslists of the Gurdwara Committee election. According to Nanavati Commission, atsome places mobs indulging in violence were allowed to use D.T.C. buses or othervehicles belonging to the State Transport Corporation. The modus operandi of theattackers was almost the same in various localities. The attackers either came armedwith weapons and inflammable materials like kerosene, petrol and some white powderor were supplied with such materials soon after they were taken to the localitieswhere the Sikhs were to be attacked. Male members of the Sikh community weretaken out of their houses. They were beaten first and then burnt alive in a systematicmanner. In some cases, tyres were put around their necks and then were set on fireby pouring kerosene or petrol over them. In other cases, white inflammable powderwas thrown on them which immediately caught fire. This was a common patternwhich was followed by the big mobs which had played havoc in certain areas.

Silver lining in the otherwise dismal picture was the role played by the well-meaning members of the civil society and organisations like P.U.C.L., P.U.D.R. and theSikh Forum. At that difficult moment when most of the Sikhs had taken shelter in thehomes of non-Sikh neighbours and friends and poor widows and children taken torelief camps, it were mainly non-Sikhs especially Mrs. Mohini Giri and her colleaguesfrom the Guild of Service and War Widows Bhavan, who rushed relief to Teliwaraand other areas in East Delhi which were not easily accessible. Faculty and studentsof J.N.U. played a positive role in coming out in open defence of the hapless Sikhswho had become objects of hate and ridicule overnight. Apart from checking falserumours like the Sikhs having poisoned all the drinking water in Delhi and thattrains from Punjab coming to Delhi with wagons full of Hindu dead bodies, theyalso organized peace marches in nearby troubled spots. It was only appropriate thatwhen Sant Harchand Singh Longowal came to visit Delhi to express sympathy withthe members of the Sikh community, the first thing he did was to visit the J.N.U.wherein he started his speech by thanking non-Sikh sisters and brothers of Delhi forsaving many Sikh lives.

While immediate relief was provided to the victims of the riots in differentcamps, no long term strategy was planned for their emotional and economicrehabilitation and integration in the main stream. V.P.Singh, who became the PrimeMinister of India in 1989, in his wisdom provided small flats to the widows of 1984riots in Tilak Vihar, Sector 16-J, Rohini and Garhi in East of Kailash, thus giving thenational capital dubious distinction of having widows colonies to be used for votebank politics during every election. In spite of Nine Enquiry Commissions, during theCongress, Janta Dal, N.D.A. and U.P.A. rule in the centre, justice has alluded the Sikhs


which shows that the Indian State is either unequipped or unwilling to punish theguilty. The Sikh society and the Gurdwara Committees which have no lack of economicresources need to clear their conscience by doing something tangible for economicrehabilitation of the survivors of 1984.

In spite of Mishra Commission fixing the responsibility of Delhi carnage onCongress workers and criminal elements and giving clean chit to Congress leaders,popular Sikh memory will neither forgive nor forget H.K.L. Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar,Jagdish Tytler, Dharam Das Shastri and others for their role in anti-Sikh riots.

Now that history has taken a full circle from November 1984, when the Sikhswere hiding their identity and taking shelter in safe havens, to May 2004 whenDr.Manmohan Singh, a turbaned Sikh, was elected to highest executive office of thePrime Minister of worlds largest democracy what should the Sikhs do? Shouldthey forget the past? Should they live in the past? Or should they live with thepast? are the questions which have no easy answers.

Mohinder SinghProfessor of Eminence,

Punjabi University, Patiala


Sins of Commission

How thirty years and nine official inquiries

obscured the truths

of the anti-Sikh violence of 1984

On Wednesday, 31 October 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi wasassassinated by two of her guards, both Sikh. In the ensuing violence, which lastedroughly three days, 2,733 Sikhs were killed in Delhi. Sikhs were also attacked inseveral other Indian cities, including Kanpur, Bokaro, Jabalpur and Rourkela. It remainsone of the bloodiest and most brutal episodes of communal violence in independentIndia.

Over the next two decades, nine commissions of inquiry were instituted.Seven of these investigated specific aspects of the tragedy, such as the death count,which was officially established by the Ahuja Committee in 1987. Two of the panelsthe Ranganath Misra Commission, constituted in 1985, and the Justice GT NanavatiCommission, whose final report was published in 2005were required to look atthe violence in its entirety.

The reports of those two commissions still make for startling reading. Eachrecorded testimonies from numerous victims and witnesses, and took depositionsfrom some of those accused, including police officers who had been on duty in badlyaffected areas. Yet there is not just a complete mismatch between the testimoniesrecorded and the conclusions reachedthe commissions own observationscontradict their findings.

For thirty years, it has been persistently claimedpartly on the basis of thesefindingsthat the violence following Gandhis death was an unplanned outpouringof grief. But the records of these commissions clearly establish one thing that damnssuch conclusions: the condemnable but largely spontaneous violence of 31 Octobertransformed into a clearly orchestrated massacre that continued from the 1st to the3rd of November.


For many years, survivors, witnesses and observers have suspected that the violencewas orchestrated by the highest echelons of the Congress party. Cases have beenbrought against some Congress leaders - notably Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler -but so far no senior politician or police officer has been sentenced.

Fresh evidence that figures in this piece suggests the orders for the violencecame from the member of parliament Arun Nehru, a cousin and confidante of IndiraGandhis son and successor Rajiv. While this evidence is indirect testimony, it isstrengthened by a considerable amount of circumstantial evidence available in theMisra and Nanavati reports.

* * *

Shortly after 9 am, Indira Gandhi stepped out of her house at 1 SafdarjungRoad to walk to her office in an adjacent bungalow, where Peter Ustinov was waitingwith a television crew to interview her. A head constable was to heel, holding aloft anumbrella to protect Gandhi from the sun. Two other policemen and her personalsecretary, RK Dhawan, followed.

The gate separating the bungalows was manned by two Sikh jawans, who hadcoordinated to be on the same shift. Beant Singh, armed with his service revolver,had exchanged duties with another policeman. Knowing a latrine was located nearthe gate, Satwant Singh, armed with a semi-automatic carbine, had stationed himselfthere by claiming he was suffering from dysentery.

A week earlier, both men had partaken of amrit, in a Sikh ceremony usuallyreserved for the most faithful. Their fervour was a direct consequence of OperationBluestar. As Gandhi approached the gate, Beant and Satwant opened firefive shotsfrom Beants revolver, 25 from Satwants carbine. As soon as she fell to the ground,both men dropped their weapons, and were taken into custody. Gandhi was rushedto the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where she was declared dead later thatday.

The two unarmed and no longer belligerent jawans were detained by personnelfrom the Indo-Tibetan Border Force in a guardroom, where they soon sufferedgrievous gunshot wounds. While Satwant was badly injured, Beant died. (Satwant wasexecuted by hanging four and a half years later.)

* * *

In its summary of that days violence, the Nanavati commission wrote thatthe first sign of such public resentment resulting in an angry outburst in Delhicame around 2.30 pm, when the public suspected that Smt. Indira Gandhi had


succumbed to her injuries and started assaulting passersby Sikhs. Further violencewas noted around 5 pm, when the cars in the entourage of President Giani ZailSingh were stoned at AIIMS. At 6 pm, Gandhis death was announced on All IndiaRadio. Soon after, Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as prime minister.

Around the same time, crowds had gathered in several parts of Delhi andbecome violent, the Nanavati commission wrote.

The Sikhs were beaten and their vehicles were burnt. Till then, the attackswere made by persons who had collected on the roads to know what had happenedand what was happening. They were stray incidents and the attacks were not at allorganised. The mobs till then were not armed with weapons or inflammable materials.With whatever that became handy, they manhandled Sikhs and burnt their vehicles.There were stray incidents of damaging houses or shops of the Sikhs.

At this stage, it was clear that Sikhs were being collectively targeted, and theDelhi administration, headed by the lieutenant governor, PG Gavai, would have beenjustified in deploying additional forces to avert the violence. In and around the capital,the army typically maintained one infantry brigade and one artillery brigade; it couldalso call on whatever limited manpower was available at the Rajputana Riflesregimental training centre. General AS Vaidya, the Chief of the Army Staff at the time,later told the Misra commission that an additional brigade of sixteen hundred soldiershad been ordered to move from Meerut to Delhi at 10.30 am on 31 October, andthat it reached the capital before midnight. The Delhi areas commanding officer,Major General JS Jamwal, told the commission that the total number of availablesoldiers was 6,100. Just under half were available for field duty, he said, while theremaining 3,100 were either used for controlling movements at Teenmurti Bhavan,where the body of the late Prime Minister was lying in state, or were posted alongthe route from there to Shakti Sthal, where Gandhi was to be cremated. Vaidya saidhe gave Jamwal his consent to immediately extend military assistance to the Delhiadministration if asked for.

But no one did. The Delhi police commissioner, Subhash Tandon, told theMisra commission that there were not enough army personnel in Delhi to draw on,but this was plainly wrong; the commission itself found that his contention wasentirely without basis. If troops had been called in on the morning of 1 November1984, the commission concluded, 5,000 Army jawans divided into columns and movinginto the streets properly armed would not have brought about the death of at least2,000 people. In other words, at least two thousand lives were lost because theDelhi administration chose not to deploy the army.

* * *


Overnight, the violence in Delhi transformed. The Nanavati commission foundthat from the morning of 1 November the nature and intensity of the attacks changed.After about 10 am on that day slogans like Khoon-Ka-Badla-Khoon Se Lengeblood for bloodwere raised by the mobs that were soon operating across thecity. Rumours were circulated which had the effect of inciting people against theSikhs and prompt them to take revenge. One of these rumours that Sikhs hadpoisoned Delhis drinking water; another was that every train coming in from Punjabwas freighted with dozens of dead bodies of non-Sikhs. This was an out and out lie,the Misra commission found, but was intended to create the necessary panic andbring about the proper mood in the people constituting the mobs to react againstthe Sikhs.

The mobs were well organised. According to evidence admitted by the Nanavaticommission, the attackers either came armed with weapons and inflammable materialslike kerosene, petrol and some white powder or were supplied with such materialssoon after they were taken to the localities where the Sikhs were to be attacked.(The powder is likely to have been white phosphorous, a volatile substance notstocked in most households or ordinary shops. How an industrial quantity of thissubstance suddenly became available to mobs in Delhi was not investigated.)

The commission also acknowledged evidence that on the previous evening,either meetings were held or the persons who could organise attacks were contactedand were given instructions to kill Sikhs and loot their houses and shops. The attackswere made in a systematic manner and without much fear of the police; almostsuggesting that they were assured that they would not be harmed while committingthose acts and even thereafter.

One means of murder was common in neighbourhoods across the city:

Male members of the Sikh community were taken out of their houses. Theywere beaten first and then burnt alive in a systematic manner. In some cases, tyreswere put around the necks and then were set on fire by pouring kerosene or petrolover them. In some case, white inflammable powder was thrown on them whichimmediately caught fire thereafter. This was a common pattern which was followedby the big mobs which had played havoc in certain areas.

Sikh-owned shops in these localities were identified, looted and burnt. Thus,what had initially started as an angry outburst became an organised carnage.

It seems clear from these observations that on the night of 31 October,instructions were issued on how Sikhs were to be killed, along with assurances thatthe police would not interfere. That disparate groups of rioters in different parts of


Delhi spontaneously decided to string their victims with tyres and burn them alive isimplausible. It is far more likely that orders to carry this out issued from a singlepoint of command.

In March this year, in the course of reporting on Operation Bluestar, I met theformer petroleum secretary Avtar Singh Gill at residence in Sainik Farms, Delhi.During one conversation, he told me that Arun Nehru, Rajiv Gandhis close confidante,had sounded him out months before Bluestar about the possibility of the armyinvading the Golden Temple.

As one of the few Sikhs in a senior position in the governmenteven thoughI was clean-shaven, he wanted to know my views, Gill said, his back ramrod-straight.He wanted to know how the community would react. It was not the first time hehad spoken to me about Punjab, and he made no bones about his views. I rememberhim once telling me, with some pride, that he was a hawk. I told him such a movewould be a blunder. Given the history of the Sikhs it would result in assassinations,and I remember using the plural.

The mention of Nehru led Gill to relate his personal experience of theaftermath of Indira Gandhis death. On 1 November, he went to his office. Lalit Suriof Lalit Hotels, who used to come and see me often, dropped by. He was the errandboy for Rajiv Gandhi, and since he often needed some work done, he was close tome. He came to me in the ministry and said, Clearance has been given by ArunNehru for the killings in Delhi and the killings have started. The strategy is to catchSikh youth, fling a tyre over their heads, douse them with kerosene and set them onfire. This will calm the anger of the Hindus.

Suri, Gill continued, told me that I should be careful even though my name isnot on the voters list, the Delhi gurdwara voters list. They have been provided thislist. This will last for three days. It has started today; it will end on the third.

Gill then told me an anecdote that captured something of the paranoia ofthat week. On the third day, which was the day of Indira Gandhis cremation, whenpeople were paying last respects to her body lying in state at her residenceon thatevening Lalit Suri sent a man to me in a car from the PMO. The man from the PrimeMinisters Office told me, Suri has said you still have not been there, it is evening,you must go. When I asked why, the man said, It is all being recorded on TV cameras,and Suri sahib has sent him to fetch me. He took me in the car to where Mrs Gandhiwas lying in state. When I reached home, my wife told me she had seen me on TVcircling the body.


That Arun Nehru had a role in the violence has long been widely rumoured,but Gills statement marks the first time a senior government official has put theaccusation on record. His story offers the first coherent explanation for the natureof the violence in Delhi. A detail in Gills story also helps solve one piece of a long-standing puzzle. The lawyer HS Phoolka has been at the forefront of the legal battleto secure justice for the victims of the 1984 violence. When I told him about myconversation with Gill, he immediately seized upon the mention of the gurdwaravoters lists, which contain the names of people eligible to vote in elections to theDelhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. We had always wondered howgovernment voters lists were sufficient to tell a Sikh from anyone with the last nameSingh, Phoolka said. But, of course, the ease with which Sikh houses were identifiedwould make sense if gurdwara voters lists were available.

Ordinary electoral rolls may have been accessible or familiar to local Congressleaders, but low-level politicians would have had no reason to keep copies of theDSGMC lists, which were of no use in election campaigns. That these lists wereobtained from local gurdwaras after the violence began is also inconceivable. However,Phoolka had reason to believe that the lists were available to people in the higherechelons of the regime. When we were collating material to present before theMisra commission, we were told by some people in the intelligence community thatshortly before Operation Bluestar, fearing a reaction from the Sikhs of Delhi, detailedinformation on the community had been gathered by the government, he said.Unfortunately, we were not able to get any independent evidence.

In May 1985 a body under the Commission of Inquiry Act was set up. Thisnew commission, constituted that same month, was mandated to inquire into theallegations in regard to the incidents of organised violence which took place in Delhifollowing the assassination of the late Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi. This wasthe Misra commission, whose report was submitted to the government in August1986 and made public the following February.

From the beginning, the commission was procedurally biased. Police officialsand administrators were allowed to depose in camera; even lawyers representingthe victims were barred from attending, let alone examining the witnesses. Accordingto Phoolka, neither the lawyers nor the media at large learned of these depositionsuntil long after they took place.

Seeking to justify the initial violence after the assassination, the Misracommission termed it natural. Misra wrote, According to the Indian tradition alady cannot be killed and she is said to be Avadhya.


Sikhs are reputed for their valour and valiance. When two of the Sikh guardsdrawn from the police and meant for providing security to the late Prime Ministeropened fire on her and she succumbed to the injuries thus sustained, a sense ofuniversal anguish was a natural reaction. The Commission, therefore, accepts thesubmission advanced before it that the incidents against the Sikhs an October 31,1984, started as a natural reaction to the situation and at that stage there was noorganised attempt to cause or spread violence by rioting directed against the Sikhs.

Misra then considered the subsequent massacre : The cause for the attackson Sikhs from 01/11/1984 had not remained the same. Taking advantage of the angerof the public, other forces had moved in to exploit the situation. Large number ofaffidavits indicate that local Congress (I) leaders and workers had either incited orhelped the mobs in attacking the Sikhs.

But for the backing and help of influential and resourceful persons, killing ofthe Sikhs so swiftly and in large numbers could not have happened.

Even after making this observation, and citing compelling evidence that theviolence was highly organised and systematic, the commission chose to absolve seniorCongressmen and place the blame on local leaders.

This conclusion does not stand up to scrutiny. Its improbable that local leadersacting independently would have devised the same method of violence. Thecommission provided no cogent explanation for how mobs across the city arrived atSikh homes equipped with tyres and ample kerosene, and settled on exactly thesame means of killing and burning the bodies of Sikhs. There is also no explanationfor why, in cities such as Bokaro and Kanpur where violence also took place, thisuniformity was absent.

The commission went so far as to argue that senior Congress leaders couldnot have organised the massacre because, if they had, the violence would have beeneven more severe: If the party in power or a minister or well placed person hadmasterminded or organised the riot, the same would had taken even a more seriousturn.

The commissions final conclusion was that the change in the pattern fromspontaneous reaction to organised riots was the outcome of the take over of thecommand of the situation by anti-social elements.

But no clarification was forthcoming of who or what these anti-social elementswere.


After heading the commission, Ranganath Misra went on to become the chief justiceof the Supreme Court. In 1993, following his retirement, he was appointed the firsthead of the National Human Rights Commission. Five years later, the Congress, thenin the opposition, nominated him to the Rajya Sabha. The partys leadership, whichwas let off the hook by the commissions report, had rewarded its author with a seatin the Indian Parliament.

* * *

In May 2000, there was a final opportunity to arrive at the truth, when the GTNanavati Commission was appointed by the newly elected National DemocraticAlliance government. The first term of reference for the body was that it wouldinquire into the causes and course of the criminal violence and riots targetingmembers of the Sikh community which took place in the National Capital Territoryof Delhi and other parts of the country on 31st October, 1984 and thereafter.

GT Nanavati was a problematic choice to head the commission. In 1998, hewas part of a two-member Supreme Court bench that commuted the convictedmurderer Kishori Lals death sentence to life imprisonment. Lal is often referred toas the butcher of Trilokpuri for his role in the 1984 killings. In the judgement,Nanavati and his colleague wrote:

We may notice that the acts attributed to the mob of which the appellantwas a member at the relevant time cannot be stated to be a result of any organisedsystematic activity leading to genocide. Perhaps, we can visualise that to the extentthere was unlawful assembly and to the extent that the mob wanted to teach a sternlesson to the Sikhs there was some organisation; but in that design, that they did notconsider that women and children should be annihilated which is a redeeming feature.

It is difficult to follow the Supreme Courts logic that killing only the malemembers of a family mitigates the crime of murder. The judgement suggests thatNanavati had made up his mind about the events of 1984 before the commissionwas ever constituted. If he had already concluded that the violence in Trilokpuri wasnot organised, more evidence, and from other neighbourhoods in Delhi, was unlikelyto change his mind.

In its 2005 report, the Nanavati commission effectively retraced the stepstaken by the Misra commission twenty years earlier, and followed much the samereasoning. Like that previous body, the Nanavati commission, in its conclusions,contradicted the evidence placed before it:

Some of the affidavits filed before the Commission generally state that theCongress Leaders/Workers were behind these riots. In Part-III of this report, the


Commission has referred to some of the incidents wherein some named Congress(I)Leaders/Workers had taken part. No other person or organisation apart from anti-social elements to some extent, is alleged to have taken part in those incidents. Smt.Indira Gandhi was a Congress (I) Leader. The slogans which were raised during theriots also indicate that some of the persons who constituted the mobs were Congress(I) workers or sympathisers.

According to the commission, there was simply no evidence that Shri RajivGandhi or any other high ranking Congress (I) Leader had suggested or organisedattacks on Sikhs. Whatever acts were done, were done by the local Congress (I)leaders and workers, and they appear to have done so for their personal politicalreasons.

Neither commission reconciled the contradictions in its account of theviolence, and neither gave due consideration to evidence that went against itsconclusions. Both bodies reports found that the carnageorganised through meetingsthat ensured police cooperation and a uniform method of murder across Delhiwas the result of uncoordinated acts by local Congress workers.

The 1984 massacres are a clear case of violence organised against a communityby a political party for electoral gain. But these allegations have never been subjectedto an honest, independent inquiry. The Misra and the Nanavati commissionssidestepped the question of a larger conspiracy. This had the legal effect of ensuringthat any subsequent inquiries would be restricted to looking at the role of specificindividuals in specific cases. If the conspiracy had been properly investigated, it islikely that testimony such as Avtar Gills statement about Arun Nehru would havecome to light much earlier.

Hartosh Singh Bal

Journalist,

The Caravan


1984 Riots :

Thirty years of impunity

Thirty years ago, Maina Kaur was a young woman in Delhi all set to getmarried. Her modest home was filled with members of her extended family whohad gathered for her wedding. It was then that a mob suddenly attacked her house.The attack was so brutal that it ended up in the murder of eight of her familymembers including father, brother, uncles and cousins. Maina herself was sexuallyassaulted and abducted by the mob and she returned home, ravaged and distraught,after three days. Her wedding was called off as the trauma wrecked her physicallyand mentally. As if all that suffering were not bad enough, the Indian state failed todeliver any semblance of justice to her. None of the accused persons identified byher and her mother have ever been convicted. In varying degrees and forms, such isthe searing story of thousands of Sikhs affected by the 1984 carnage.

As somebody who has written on such repeated undermining of the rule oflaw, I deeply appreciate the gesture of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission ofthe US Congress in organising this event on the 1984 carnage titled Thirty Years ofImpunity. The meeting honors the memory of those innocent persons who hadbeen killed in 1984 and pays tribute to those survivors who had been widowed,orphaned, grievously injured or rendered homeless. Let me also commend the SikhCoalition for this timely initiative. I addressed a similar meeting five years ago in thehistoric building of the British Parliament commemorating the 25th anniversary ofthe 1984 carnage. The ongoing struggles for justice in India gain strength from suchexpressions of solidarity from abroad. The shielding of mass murderers cant bepassed off as internal affairs of any country. As Martin Luther King famously put it,Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. When the world is beingincreasingly globalised on the economic front, it is apt to recall an old saying in India:VasudhaivaKutumbakam. The contemporary message that can be drawn from this isthat whether the world is one market or not, the entire humanity is one family.Indeed, more than globalisation of the economy, the world needs universalisation ofhuman rights standards and practices.

The documentary we just saw indeed, the circumstances in which the so-called Widow Colony had come into existence testify to the horror and magnitude


of the violence that we are commemorating today. Even for a country such as India,which is inured to mass violence, the 1984 carnage remains exceptional from ahuman rights perspective, for at least three reasons. First, it was the closest thatpost-colonial India ever came to a pogrom as the violence was almost entirely one-sided and the casualties almost entirely from one community and there was hardlyany instance of police firing during the three days that the killings went on unchecked.It was as if the entire state machinery had colluded with the mobs targeting Sikhs inresponse to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two policemen ofthat community. The second exceptional feature of the 1984 carnage was the sheerscale of the death toll, although the violence had largely subsided in three days. Sincethe partition riots at the time of its independence way back in 1947, India has neverseen as much violence as it did in November 1984, in a carnage spread across far-flung places such as Delhi, Kanpur and Bokaro. The third exceptional feature wasthat most of those genocidal killings took place in Delhi, yes, right in the Capital of acountry that prides itself on being the worlds largest democracy. The official deathtoll in Delhi alone was 2,733.

Given that I am speaking in the Capital of a country that considers itself theworlds oldest democracy, I cant help wondering whether such a mass crime, inwhich rampaging mobs had fatally attacked hundreds of people, could have everoccurred in Washington DC? In the unlikely event of mobs taking over the streets ofthis orderly city, could the perpetrators of mass murder have got away with it?Could the security forces here have colluded with the mobs as blatantly as they didin Delhi? Could your President at the end of it all have dared to justify the masscrimes, as Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi did, by declaring that when a big tree hadfallen, the earth was bound to shake? Such questions would seem equally inconceivableabout other leading capital cities too. Whatever the provocation, could there everhave been such massacres, at any rate post-World War II, in London, Paris, Berlin orTokyo? But if we look beyond liberal democracies, the scale of the bloodshed inDelhi 1984 is perhaps comparable to what happened in Beijing five years later, duringthe Tiananmen Square massacre. But then, those students at Tiananmen Squarehappened to be gunned down by security forces in a single-party political system; sothe long arm of the law grabbed the protesters rather than the troops. Come tothink of it, the death toll of Delhi 1984 was similar to that of 9/11. But again, there isa big difference: 9/11 was the result of sudden and unforeseen terror attacks, notmob violence that had deliberately remained unchecked for three days. By anystandards of the civilized world, Delhi 1984 is one of a kind, a monstrosity without aparallel.


Honoured as I

never ever we forget our martyrs

Documents

sikh forumnever

sikh community

sikh security guards

bythe sikh forumpublished

sikh foundationnew delhiwww

lists of sikh residentsto

history of sikhs

years of carnage