November 1, 2024, marks the 40th year of pan-India massacres in which thousands of Sikhs were brutally maimed and killed. Although the official figure on the number of deaths in Delhi alone was 2733, other estimates placed the total number between 3,000 in Delhi to 30,000 deaths all over India. The scale and design of the organised massacres clearly pointed towards the complicity of the then ruling political party which later used the state’s executive and other agencies for acts of commission and omission.
In Delhi a total of 587 FIRs were registered in all. Of which 241 were shown as untraceable and hence could not be proceeded against. 11 others were quashed by the Police and 3 were withdrawn leaving a total of 302 cases. Of these, it was only in 25 cases that conviction happened, while in 264 cases the accused were either acquitted or the cases discharged. Although the total number of persons charged for murder was 1286, only 60 persons were convicted of murder charges while 68 others were convicted for petty crimes such as theft, violating the curfew, criminal trespass etc. The inordinate delay tactics adopted and engineered by the police in presenting facts of the cases resulted in many of these cases failing to progress beyond the trial courts. At present there are about 20 cases that are pending in various courts in Delhi. Of these 6 cases are against the senior Congress (I) leader and former Member of Parliament Sajjan Kumar (3 in trial courts, 3 in High Court of Delhi and 1 in Supreme Court) and 2 cases against another Congress (I) prominent leader and former Member of Parliament Jagdish Tytler.
The legal battle continues for some of the families, even after 40 years of the incident. Ironically it is their words against the powerful. For example, even though 34 years after the carnage that Sajjan Kumar was finally found guilty on the charges of IPC 120B, 302 and 436, by Justices S. Muralidhar and Vinod Goel in 2018; another judgement pronounced by Gitanjali Goel at the Rouse Avenue District Court acquitted Kumar of the charges brought against him under Section 109 IPC read with Sections 147, 148, 149, 153, 295, 302 and 436 IPC. Sheela Kaur who lost her husband, father-in-law and brother-in-law, has challenged the decision in the Delhi High Court.
In yet another case involving a prominent member of the Congress (I) party, having held even higher office, is that of Jagdish Tytler. Here, the CBI had filed three closure reports in 2007, 2009 and 2014. But Delhi’s Karkardooma courts rejected the CBI closure report on December 4, 2015, on the protest petition by Lakhwinder Kaur, who lost her husband in the Gurudwara Pul Bangash attack. Notably, it was during this attack that three Sikhs by the name of Sardar Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Gurcharan Singh were killed. The court asked the CBI to continue its probe, which eventually resulted in filing of the chargesheet in May 2023 and the Rouse Avenue Court asking the police to frame formal charges against Tytler in August 2024. Unlike his colleagues H.K.L. Bhagat or Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler up until 2024 had never had formal charges framed against him.
In the report “Who are the Guilty” (1984) based on the investigation of PUDR along with PUCL, published within the fortnight of carnage, 17 November 1984, names of these prominent Congress (I) leaders and their involvement as per allegation levelled by the victims was clearly highlighted. It also included the names of over 140 police officials, many of whom played active roles in the killings. Based on these finding PUDR and PUCL also moved the Delhi high court for a comprehensive enquiry, which was dismissed. However, facing pressure from various civil rights and other organizations, the government started setting up committees to look into the cause of this carnage and to provide relief and compensation to the victims. Till 2015, altogether 12 commissions and committees have been setup in this regard. Despite all this, cases hardly moved and there was hardly any justice provided to the victims. PUDR reports “Justice Denied” (1987) and “A Report on the Aftermath” (1992) critically reviewed the working and findings of these commissions and committees and status of cases.
The shoddy work of police officials and ineffectiveness of judiciary process and providing justice to the victim has been clearly highlighted in the findings of Justice S,N. Dhingra committee, latest being set up in 2015. The cruel twist can be clearly understood by the fact that even of the cases recommended by Dhingra Committee on April 15, 2019, three of those were dismissed by a Delhi High Court Bench consisting of Justices Pratibha Singh and Amit Sharma in October 2024. The dismissal was approved by the Court on grounds of the accused having already been cleared of charges over 36 years ago. Irony cannot be amiss because the dismissal of these three cases could very well establish a precedent for 10 other cases, eventually compromising the essence of justice.
Despite all such hardships, few victims and survivors of the 1984 massacres have continued their struggle with unwavering determination. Despite reposing little faith in police investigations and even lesser towards political parties in power, their hope now rests squarely upon the judicial process, which has already taken years of toll on their health, family and relationships.
PUDR Demands:
- To open all the pending cases and reinvestigate with proper police investigation as pointed by the Dhingra Committee
- Retrial of all the cases where prime witness had turned hostile.
- Speed up all the pending appeal in higher courts.
- Action against all the police officials who did not perform their duty in presenting credible investigation by colluding with the accused.
Paramjeet Singh and Joseph Mathai
(Secretaries)
