The Tribune – Riot victims disrupt rail services in state; In Delhi, angry protesters scuffle with police; several SAD leaders injured

Kuldip Bhatia & Ashok Kaura

Ludhiana, May 5. More than 12 trains running on the Amritsar-New Delhi and Jammu-New Delhi sections were delayed by hours owing to the “rail roko” protest by 1984 riots victims here today.

They were protesting against the acquittal of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a riots case.The victims, including a large number of women, squatted on the rail track near the Jagraon bridge in the morning. They raised slogans against the Congress-led UPA Government and the judiciary and brandished swords and sticks.

Owing to heavy police deployment and adroit handling of the situation by senior police and Railway officials, the protesters were prevented from reaching the local railway station.

More than a dozen main route trains, including Shane-Punjab, Shatabdi Express, Jalandhar-New Delhi Intercity, Amritsar-New Delhi Intercity, Amritsar-Chandigarh Intercity, Chhattisgarh Express, Malwa Express, Garib Rath, Sachkhand Express, Pashchim Express and Amritsar-Haridwar Janshatabdi were delayed, some for five hours.

Phagwara: Riot victims and activists of the Sikh students Federation , demanding action against Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar disrupted rail movement at various sections.

Amritsar mail, Andaman express and a goods train were stopped near Ludhiana, New Delhi-bound Shatabdi Express at the Phagwara railway station , Garib Rath Express at the Phillaur railway station, Amritsar-Chandigarh Superfast Express at the Jalandhar railway station, Nanded Sahib-bound Sachkhand Express at the Beas railway station and Ravi Express at the Batala railway station during the protest.

Railway Sources said the trains were stopped by the authorities only at main railway stations to prevent harassment to commuters. Activists of the Janta Jal Sewa Samiti, Phagwara, led by Vipin Khurana and former Nagar Council president Malkiat Singh Ragbotra served sweet water to stranded passengers.

New Delhi: A scuffle broke out between Sikh protesters and the Delhi Police while the former were on their way to the Prime Minister’s residence to submit a memorandum seeking Sajjan Kumar’s speedy trial in the High Court.

Sajjan Kumar was last week acquitted by a Karkardooma court in a 1984 riots case. At least 90 protestors were arrested and seven members of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), including Manjinder Singh Sirsa, SAD’s general secretary, president of Youth Akali Dal, Kuldeep Singh Bhogal, and Onkar Singh Thapar, received minor injuries. At least nine policemen were injured too. While the protesters claimed that the police had
hit them with lathis, the Delhi Police denied the same.

“We wanted to submit a memorandum in support of Nirpreet Kaur and others on fast at Janat Mantar. We proceeded towards the PM’s house but were stopped and hit with lathis even though the march was peaceful. Three of our members suffered injuries and were hospitalised,” said Manjit Singh GK, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president. He said he and his colleague Avtar Singh Hit were
taken into custody.

Deputy Commissioner SBS Tyagi refuted the allegations. “Police barricades were damaged. We had to detain 90 protesters who were later let off. Those injured were admitted to RML Hospital.”

At 2 pm as the protesters, including Aam Aadmi Party and BJP activists, marched from Jantar Mantar towards the PM’s residence, they crossed two barricades at Parliament Street even as the police personnel tried to stop them. The 2,000-strong crowd then tried to break the third barricade but were stopped. “The Delhi Police lathicharged the protesters for demanding justice but they failed to do anything against those responsible for the 1984 massacre,” said the DSGMC chief.

On being released, the protesters resumed their protest at Jantar Mantar.

Rally in Amritsar

Amritsar: The 1984 Sikh Katle-am Pirit Pariwar Sangharsh Committee held a protest rally against the acquittal of senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 riots case. The protesters raised slogans against the UPA Government. Committee president Kashmir Singh Saggu alleged that the Congress and the CBI had colluded to ensure that Sajjan Kumar was acquitted. (TNS)

‘Lathi charge’ flayed

Amritsar: Avtar Singh Makkar, SGPC chief, has flayed the “lathi charge” on DSGMC office-bearers and SAD leaders in New Delhi. He said the UPA Government should deliver justice to the Sikhs by putting all those behind the 1984 riots behind bars. “The government should listen to the voice of the community rather than resorting to oppressive measures,” he added. (TNS)

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The Tribune – Verdict in Sajjan Kumar case today

Syed Ali Ahmed, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 29. The Karkardooma District Court will pronounce its verdict in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case tomorrow in which senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and five others, former MLA Mahinder Yadav, former councillor Balwan Khokhar; Krishan Khokhar, Capt Bhamal and Girdhari Lal, are accused.

Arguments by the prosecution as well as the defence were completed on April 3. District Sessions Judge JR Aryan had on April 16 called for any clarification, if needed. As no clarification was sought by either of the parties, the court declared to pronounce the verdict on April 30.

The case pertains to the killing of Kehar Singh and Gurpreet Singh, husband and son of Jagdish Kaur, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh in the Raj Nagar area that comes under the Delhi Cantonment police station.

The killings took place on November 1 and 2 after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. A case was registered by the CBI in October 2005 on the recommendations of Nanawati Commission. The CBI filed a charge sheet in the court on February 1, 2010. The trial court framed charges against Sajjan Kumar and the five others under Sections 302 (murder), 427 (damage to property), 153-A (promoting enmity between different communities) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).

Seventeen witnesses each were produced by the prosecution and the defence. After recording of evidence ended in March 2012, arguments in the case were concluded on April 3, 2013.

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The Asian Age – 1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Court reserves judgement

New Delhi, 3 April 2013. A Delhi court today reserved its judgement in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and five others are accused.

District jugde J.R. Aryan fixed the matter for April 16 for clarification, if any, from the CBI or the six accused persons after they concluded the final arguments in the case.

“Judgement is reserved. To come up for clarification, if any, on April 16,” the judge said.

Concluding the final arguments, CBI prosecutor D.P. Singh said that the prosecution has limited itself to what each of the witnesses had seen at the time of the incident.

The witnesses have given honest versions of what they all had seen during the riots, he said, alleging that in all the complaints wherever Kumar’s name had cropped up, it was “immediately eliminated” from the police records.

During the arguments, Kumar’s counsel I.U. Khan told the court that there were material contradictions in statements of the witnesses, including complainant Jagdish Kaur.

Khan said Kaur had not taken Kumar’s name anywhere in any of her affidavits filed before various judicial commissions, constituted to probe the riots-related cases, till 2010.

“When she (Kaur) appeared in the court in 2010 to record her statement, she gave us a shock by naming Sajjan Kumar for the first time and said something which was not there in the records,” he argued.

Kumar is facing trial along with five others — Balwan Khokkar, Kishan Khokkar, Mahender Yadav, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal – for allegedly inciting a mob against the Sikh community in Delhi Cantonment area.

The case relates to anti-Sikh riots that had broken out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. (PTI)

http://www.asianage.com/delhi/1984-anti-sikh-riots-case-court-reserves-judgement-429

The Tribune – Need for people’s movement to get justice for riot-hit: Harvinder Singh Phoolka

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 17. Senior advocate Harvinder Singh Phoolka today called upon the people to build pressure on the executive, legislature and judiciary to “ensure that justice is done” while deciding cases involving Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler for their alleged role in the 1984 riots, as had been done in the Delhi rape case.

Addressing a press conference, Phoolka said: “Public opinion has always had an impact on the way the government’s are run.

“The CBI had closed the case in which Tytler was accused of killing three Sikhs. A decision on re-opening the case on his alleged involvement in the killings in the Bara Hindu Rao area is expected within a fortnight. A verdict on Sajjan Kumar’s alleged involvement in murdering five Sikhs in Delhi cantonment police station area was also likely to be decided before the end of March.

He said the people could hold peaceful marches in towns and universities to seek “quick and effective disposal of the cases”.

Phoolka made a special mention about a case registered with the Nangloi police station on November 1, 1984, about the killing of five Sikhs. “Though a charge sheet mentioning Sajjan Kumar by name was prepared on April 8, 1992, even after 21 years, it has yet to be finalised and presented in court,” he said.

Phoolka said all three wings of the administration had done an “appreciable job” in deciding the Gujarat riot cases.

But there seemed to be a lack of sincerity in deciding the Delhi riot cases. Now when a decision on certain important cases featuring political leaders was about to be delivered, the public needed to show its solidarity with the riot victims. He said official figures had put the death toll in the Delhi riots at 3,000 though the unofficial number was higher.

“There was no people’s movement on the streets post-riots, as most of the victims were caught up in putting their lives together. Some had opted to migrate from Delhi.

Phoolka is a senior advocate in the Delhi High Court and also a Human Rights activist associated with the 30-year-old legal crusade to get justice for the 1984 riots victims allegedly involving Congress leaders. Phoolka was member-secretary of the Justice Narula Committee (1993) set up to probe the Sikh carnage.

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The Tribune – Riot-hit demand fresh probe

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 3. Thousands of Sikhs marched through Delhi streets today in memory of those killed in the 1984 riots.

Demanding a fresh probe into the riot cases, the protesters marched amid tight security. They displayed posters bearing names and addresses of those killed in Delhi. Members of various Sikh organisations later organised a “path” and “ardaas”.

“As many as 2,733 Sikhs were killed in the riots, as per official records. All those names have been put up here today for everyone to see,” said senior advocate H S Phoolka.

Juswin Singh, a student of Khalsa College, Delhi University, said, “We want the United Nations Organisation to probe the matter since the government and the judiciary have clearly failed to bring the culprits to justice.”

The protesters marched alongside a mobile exhibition named “Forgotten citizens” that had started from Amritsar last week.

The exhibition displayed pictures clicked during the riots.

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The Tribune – 1984 scars persist; Justice still eludes 1984 riot victims, 28 years after riots in Delhi and other parts of the country, The Tribune takes a look at how the affected people are coping with the trauma

Ajay Banerjee, Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 30. There have been two commissions of enquiry and eight committees to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. In these 28 years, meek efforts of the government to bring the guilty to book have just meandered through a maze of paper work and such toothless enquiries or commissions.

The inaction on the reports of the commissions and the committees stems from futility of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952. It does not give the commissions of inquiry any powers to prescribe punishment (though they can recommend it). The government can ignore their findings and that is what has happened in this case for 28 years. The commissions are like “a dose of homeopathic medicine when immediate surgery was needed”, says a senior police man who has served in Delhi.

Such has been the attitude that for the first two years, no account of the dead was carried out. The Ranganath Mishra commission – the first one set up to probe the riots — was given names, addresses and complete details of 3,870 people killed in Delhi. But police said 1,419 were killed. Cases of only these people were registered. The Delhi government filed a list of 2,300 people killed. A separate committee later established that 2,773 people died in Delhi alone.

In 2009, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram admitted in an interview to a news channel that Sikhs had a “legitimate grievance”. Jarnail Singh, author of the book “I Accuse… the Anti-Sikh Violence of 1984″ says: “We seek justice. Bring the guilty to book”.

In 2005, the GT Nanavati Commission indicted Jagdish Tytler, he resigned from his post as Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs. The government asked CBI to re-investigate the cases.

The Nanavati Commission found that there was a colossal failure in maintenance of law and order in Delhi during the riots. It expressed dissatisfaction with the then Lt. Governor P.G. Gavai and the then Police Commissioner, S C Tandon. The latter said the commission, did not take strict action against the defaulting police officers nor did he give them directions to be strict with the marauding mobs.

The Nanavati Commission also touched upon the delay in deploying the Army in the Capital on October 31 itself. So who delayed the deployment? The Lt Governor of Delhi has the powers to deploy the Army in such circumstances, without waiting for the political clearance. The then LG, P G Gavai claimed he gave the go-ahead to the Police Commissioner SC Tandon on the morning of November 1. The riots started the same day. The Delhi Police is directly under the Central government.

To read more :

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121031/nation.htm#2

The Tribune – High Court gives Punjab 4 months to verify ’84 riot victims’ claims

Saurabh Malik, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 30. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that the authorities in the State of Punjab are required to decide the claims of the “1984 anti-Sikh riots victims” in a time-bound manner.

“It is imperative upon the authorities to consider their claim in a time-bound manner,” a Division Bench of the high court has asserted, while setting a four-month deadline for the Ludhiana and Mohali deputy commissioners to verify the claims of the “riot victims”.

The ruling came on three separate petitions filed by Mohinder Singh and other petitioners against the State of Punjab and other respondents. Taking up the petitions, the Division Bench of Justices Surya Kant and RP Nagrath asked the deputy commissioners to recommend their claims for the benefits under the government policy to the “competent authority”, if they were found to be genuine “riot victims”.

Going into the circumstances leading to the filing of the petitions, the Bench said the grievance of the petitioners was that their status as victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots was not being determined by the Deputy Commissioners of Ludhiana and Mohali, “keeping in view the decision of this court dated September 14, 2010, passed in the case of Kuljit Singh and others versus State of Punjab and another”.

The Bench observed that the order was upheld by the Division Bench on February 15, 2011 in the case of Greater Mohali Area Development Authority versus Kuljit Singh and others.

The Bench added the petitioners “are said to have represented the authorities several times, including vide representation dated May 15. Suffice it would be to observe that if the petitioners are found to be bonafide victims of the 1984 riots, they shall be entitled for some benefits under the Government Policy.

“Hence, it is imperative upon the authorities to consider their claim in a time-bound manner. In these circumstances and without expressing any views on merits of the petitioners’ claim, we deem it appropriate to dispose of this writ petition with a direction to the Deputy Commissioner to verify the petitioners’ allegations, keeping in view the above-stated decisions of this court. The needful shall be done within a period of four months from the date of receiving a certified copy of this order.”

To read more :

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121031/main5.htm

The Tribune – Photo exhibition of anti-Sikh riots at Jallianwala Bagh

New Delhi, October 19. Several organisations working for the betterment of the Sikh community in Delhi today said a mobile photo exhibition of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots would be inaugurated at Jallianwala Bagh on November 1. It would reach Sultanpur Lodhi on October 24, Jalandhar on October 25, Ludhiana on October 26, Anandpur Sahib on October 27 and Chandigarh on October 28.

A seminar on “Effective legislation against communal and sectarian violence” would be held on November 4, said senior advocate of the Supreme Court H S Phoolka.

He said the photo exhibition and the seminar were being organised to pressurise the government into punishing the guilty as not one accused in the anti-Sikh riots had been convicted. He said there were only five cases being heard by courts, the rest having been dismissed for want of evidence or witnesses. (TNS)

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The Tribune – Extend scope of Garg panel probing ‘84 riots: NGO

Dharmendra Joshi, Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 4. The Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government should extend the jurisdiction of the Garg Commission probing the anti-Sikh riots at Hond Chillar in Rewari to entire Haryana, Hond Chillar Yadgaar Talmail Committee members Manwinder Singh Giaspura and Darshan Singh Gholia said here today.

Giaspura said: “Patuadi in Gurgaon has also included in the panel’s jurisdiction on court directions. The Haryana Government should extend its jurisdiction to the entire state.”

Expressing dismay at the slow pace of the probe, the committee members said: “The commission was set up initially for six months but its tenure has been extended twice.”

The committee members said that a function would be held at Hond Chillar on November 4 where tributes would be paid to the 1984 riot victims.

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The Tribune – Supreme Court : Punjab must give flats to ’84 riot victims

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, September 19. The Supreme Court today observed that it was the responsibility of the nation and the government to provide flats to all those rendered homeless in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

A Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai made the remarks while hearing a petition challenging the July 10, 2012 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court directing the Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner and the Police Commissioner to evict unauthorised occupants of flats meant for the riot victims and hand these over to deserving claimants.

Arguing for the petitioners, counsel Jaspal Singh and Satinder Singh Ghulati contended that the high court order was contradictory to a December 13, 2011 judgment of the same court on the issue. In the 2011 verdict relating to the Ludhiana Sikh Migrants Welfare Board, the high court had directed the authorities to first determine the genuine and bonafide victims to whom Red Cards had been issued.

Today, the SC asked the Punjab Government to take “positive steps” on the issue within 10 days and listed the petition, filed by Dharminder Singh and three others, for further hearing on September 28.

The petitioners had “mentioned” their case before the Bench, seeking an early hearing of their petition.

Appearing for Punjab, counsel Kuldeep Singh said the state government would take a decision in one week. At this, the Bench said, “We have taken a decision. You implement it in one week. It is not only your legal responsibility, but you are also morally and ethically responsible in every sense of the word not to evict the riot victims.”

It was a national responsibility to ensure that the victims were rehabilitated, the Bench pointed out. As the Punjab counsel pleaded for more time, the SC granted 10 days time and directed it to report back on the next date of hearing.

The petitioners said they were forced to leave their homes from different parts of the country.

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