1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Sajjan Kumar acquitted in one case

VIP

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NEW DELHI: In a major relief to Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, a Delhi court on Tuesday acquitted him in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case while convicting five others for being a part of the mob that killed five Sikhs here.

District and sessions judge J R Aryan acquitted Kumar while convicting five others — Balwan Khokkar, an ex-councillor, Mahender Yadav, an ex-MLA, Kishan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal — for their involvement in the case.

The pronouncement of judgement witnessed a huge uproar by the protesters one of whom hurled a shoe at the judge soon after he acquitted Kumar in the case of riots that broke out 29 years ago on October 31, 1984, after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Kumar, a former Lok Sabha MP from Outer Delhi, still faces trial in another 1984 rioting case. In a third case, Delhi Police has filed a closure report, saying there was no evidence against Kumar to implicate him.

Protesters in big numbers gathered at the Karkardooma district courts complex here and after Kumar's acquittal, complainant Jagdish Kaur sat on protest inside the courtroom saying she would not leave until justice is done.

Balwan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal were held guilty for the offence of murder under section 302 (murder) of the IPC which entails death penalty as maximum punishment while Mahender Yadav and Kishan Khokkar were convicted for the offence of rioting only.

Balwan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal were ordered to be taken into judicial custody by the court.

The court has now fixed May 6 for hearing the arguments on quantum of sentence in the case.

The case relates to anti-Sikh riots that had broken out after the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. Gandhi was shot dead by two of her bodyguards at her residence here.

The case, in which these five persons were held guilty, deals with the death of five Sikhs — Kehar Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Raghuvender Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh — who were members of the same family and were killed by the mob in Delhi Cantonment's Raj Nagar area.

Deceased Kehar and Gurpreet were the husband and son respectively of complainant and eye witness Jagdish Kaur while Raghuvender, Narender and Kuldeep were the brothers of Kaur and another witness Jagsher Singh.

The case against Kumar and others was registered in 2005 on a recommendation by Justice G T Nanavati Commission. CBI had filed two chargesheets against him and the other accused in January 2010.

The trial court had in May 2010 framed charges against Kumar and the five others under Sections 302 (murder), 395 (dacoity), 427 (mischief to cause damage to property), 153-A (promoting enmity between different communities), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and other provisions of the IPC.

The Delhi Police had earlier probed the riots case and the investigation was handed over to CBI in 2005. CBI had told the court there was a conspiracy of "terrifying proportion" between Kumar and the police during the riots.

The agency had said the police had kept its "eyes closed" to the widespread violence.

CBI had also alleged that in all the complaints wherever Kumar's name had cropped up, it was "immediately eliminated" from the Delhi Police records.

Defence counsel had told the court there were material contradictions in statements of the witnesses, including Jagdish Kaur.


1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Sajjan Kumar acquitted in one case - The Times of India
 

Ray

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I was watching TimesNow on this issue.

I found it extraordinary that Ved Marwaha, who was ordered to conduct an inquiry and had gone deep into the issue and was nearing the end and found police complicity, he was stopped from conducting the inquiry further.

Maxwell Pereira who apparently was trying to defend the police was mollified, when Phoolka said that Maxwell was the only police boss who ordered opening of fire on the rioters.

It was surprising to learn that police records have gone missing.

And equally surprising was the fact that eye witnesses were not examined and it is only when the CBI came in some of them were examined. If I heard correctly, the CBI had blamed the police for its inaction.

It was also said that when the Police went to arrest Sajjan Kumar, they were threatened and the police jeep was burnt!

Extraordinary that when there are witnesses who saw Sajjan Kumar leading the mob, he could be acquitted for lack of evidence.

Sadly, those were the days when there were no private TV channels!

The prosecutor has possibly not presented the case as it should have been presented.

It is also surprising that small fries got convicted, but the big fish swam free!

It is 29 years since and yet none of the bigwigs are in the gaol!

I wonder where are the so called human rights activists and people like Teesta (co-founder of Communalism Combat), Sinha and Mander (who is a Sikh himself and he is also a founding member of ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy)) holed up?

I am sure they know Sikhs too are human beings and the Sikhs are aggrieved and justifiably inflamed at the total lack of discernible justice, lethargic investigation and poor prosecution.
 
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Ved Marwah's comments on Television last night are very shocking. We all knew that the investigations were a sham but to hear from the former Delhi Police Chief how he was asked to go slow and how entire police records disappeared without a trace leaves me shaken to the core.

I do not know whether Mr.Marwah had deposed before the Nanavati Commission or have circumstances now made him speak out. Whatever be the reason this case needs to be looked into afresh and tried in a higher court within the next 4-6 months. Eye witnesses have to be given protection and Sajjan Kumar should be made to undergo the lie detection test/brain mapping which has proved to be quite useful. We cannot allow injustice to go on and on.
 

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[video]http://www.timesnow.tv/Debate-Reinvestigate-police-complicity---1/videoshow/4426564.cms[/video]

[video]http://www.timesnow.tv/Debate-Reinvestigate-police-complicity---2/videoshow/4426565.cms[/video]
 

parijataka

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The obnoxious Mani Shankar Aiyar wished well the victim of '84 pogrom against Sikhs in her fight for justice - this lady has been waiting for 29 years now

An ugly encounter and an epiphany

On the day that a Delhi court decided last week that Congress leader, Sajjan Kumar, was not guilty of involvement in the organised killing of Sikhs in 1984 I had an accidental encounter that became an epiphany in more ways than one. It was a day filled with hectic political activity. The Supreme Court pulled up the director of the CBI (Central Bureau of Intelligence) for sharing his report on the coal scandal with the Law Minister. The government's top law officers fought with each other and one of them resigned on the grounds that he was being made a scapegoat. And, then late in the afternoon came the news that Sajjan Kumar had been found not guilty of murder and inciting a mob to violence even if his five co-defendants had. There was so much going on that Barkha did a special show and I was invited to be a panellist.

The horror! The horror!

Having covered the pogroms in Delhi after Indira Gandhi's assassination and because I continue to remember them with horror and shame I always accept any chance to talk about what happened. I consider it my duty to do this in the hope that justice will be done one day even if thirty years have passed without someone like Jagdish Kaur finding closure. She was on the panel with me and when she was asked by Barkha to describe what she felt about Sajjan Kumar being acquitted she said she felt 'broken inside'. She then went on to ask why the judge should have found it in him to free the leader of the mob that killed her husband, young son and three relatives while finding his co-defendants guilty. 'They were just obeying his instructions,' she said 'he was the leader. I saw him with my own eyes and with my own ears heard him say there should be not a single Sikh left alive. And, if there are Hindu homes that are giving them shelter burn them down as well.' It was heart-rending to hear her words and they brought back memories of those terrible three days in which the streets of Delhi became killing fields.

The eminent lawyer, H.S. Phoolka, was part of Barkha's panel and explained that the reason why Sajjan Kumar had got away with murder was because the police had chosen to make a weak case against him. Naresh Gujral, who organized vigilante squads in his neighbourhood to protect Sikhs fleeing the death squads, was also on the panel and what we should have spent our time talking about was why it had taken thirty years for justice to begin to be done in one of the most shameful crimes in Indian history. But, Barkha had reckoned without Mani Shankar Aiyer's ability to distract attention from a shadow of blame falling on his late leader, Rajiv Gandhi.

He chose to do this by launching an ugly personal attack on me. A propos of nothing he said 'you sucked up to me for six months'. Sucking up has been his outstanding forte ever since he came into politics and is famously not mine so I have no idea what he meant by this. But, he then proceeded to talk about how I had written 'a filthy book after going to dinner parties'. I know what he meant by this. In 'Durbar' he does not emerge as a hero so much as a sniveling sycophant so he cannot have been happy with the book. And, what would have distressed him even more is that I write about dinner parties at which I met Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi. The courtiers who surround Sonia have taken particular exception to this.

If Mani Shankar had read 'Durbar' more carefully he would have discovered that I describe the massacres in Delhi in considerable detail and this may perhaps have made him realize that he was showing sickening contempt for Jagdish Kaur's pain. But, even as I write these words I know that the courtiers who encircle the Gandhi dynasty singularly lack compassion. They are also incapable of finding fault with anything that the dynasty does so Mani Shankar tried to whitewash Rajiv Gandhi's role in the massacres by saying that he had reacted promptly to stop the violence. This caused Naresh Gujral to say angrily that this was not true. People like Inder Gujral and Chandrashekhar, he said, had pleaded with the prime minister to call the army out if he could not control the situation and he had done nothing for three days. At the end of these three days more than 3,000 Sikhs had been killed in Delhi alone.

A mockery of tragedy

Since then what has been done in the name of justice has been a travesty. In thirty years of inquiry commissions and court cases all that has happened is that the Congress Party has gone out of its way to make sure that none of its senior leaders were implicated. The police has played an active role in helping this happen because otherwise the searchlight would turn on them and reveal thousands of cases, like that of Jagdish Kaur, when they refused to register an FIR. They told her, she said, that many more Sikhs needed to die so they could register a case together.

So what was my epiphany? Firstly, realization that Mani Shankar Aiyar has no right to be in public life because of his total lack of compassion. And, then the
realisation that the Congress Party was only bluffing when its senior leaders, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, apologized, twenty-five years after the massacres, for what happened to the Sikhs in 1984. If they had meant their apology sincerely would they have allowed a senior Congress leader, and a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi, to go on national television and mock the terrible grief of one of the victims of the violence? Would they have allowed him to tell a widow who saw her husband and son being burned alive to 'carry on fighting for justice' even if takes another thirty years? Would they have allowed him to talk sneeringly about 'kangaroo court' justice when there cannot be a better example of distorted justice than what has happened to the victims of the Sikh pogroms? Would they have allowed Sajjan Kumar to contest elections on a Congress ticket after 1984? I left Barkha's show that evening without being able to find a single comforting word to say to Jagdish Kaur.
 

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Sikh organisation in america placed 1 million $$ to convict him.

why not pay 1 million $$ to any hit man in India , he will kill 10 sajjan kumar..

why this drama??
 

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Three get life term in 1984 riots case

NEW DELHI: A city court on Thursday awarded life imprisonment to three persons in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was earlier acquitted.

District judge J R Aryan gave life terms to ex-councillor Balwan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and retired naval officer Captain Bhagmal, for murder and rioting, saying the trio's offences were grave as they targeted victims of a particular community in a gruesome manner.

Mahinder Yadav, an ex-MLA, and Kishan Khokkar were given three-year jail. The court rejected their plea to be released on probation.

A city court on Thursday rejected CBI's plea for death sentence to Balwan, Lal and Bhagmal in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, saying their offence did not come under the category of the rarest of rare.

"They had no special or personal animosity towards anyone or the deceased individually. The assassination of PM Indira Gandhi had blindfolded those youths and unfortunately, there was no leadership to bridle the mob frenzy unleashed with all cruelty," it said.

In its 10-page order, the court said there were "no two opinions" that offences committed in this case were grave. "What the accused have done were no doubt acts of the most gruesome nature. But we bear in mind that they were in rampage and they ran berserk, unguided by a sense or reason and triggered only by a demented psyche," it said.

The court also cited a Supreme Court judgment in another anti-Sikh riots case in which the death sentence awarded to the convicts% by the trial court and upheld by %the high court was commuted to %life imprisonment.

On the defence counsel's argument that the case was very old, the judge said, "The counsel tried to impress upon this court that 29 years have lapsed since the incident of this crime. To my mind, this should not be a mitigating circumstance, and seriousness and gravity of the offence does not get diluted by that factor." The court also slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 on each of the five convicts. Security had been beefed up in and around the court complex, and media was barred from entering the courtroom.

"These two accused (Yadav and Khokkar) are kept at par with other three accused (held guilty of murder) as far as sentence for their conviction under section 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons) IPC is concerned," the judge said.

Three get life term in 1984 riots case - The Times of India
 

parijataka

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Sikh organisation in america placed 1 million $$ to convict him.

why not pay 1 million $$ to any hit man in India , he will kill 10 sajjan kumar..

why this drama??
Thats what I keep thinking paa ji - is desh main judiciary is owned by Congress party, no Congressi can ever be convicted for even the most heinous crime.
 

Singh

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Sikh organisation in america placed 1 million $$ to convict him.

why not pay 1 million $$ to any hit man in India , he will kill 10 sajjan kumar..

why this drama??
For several reasons

At the time for Sikhs to expect Justice and for Govt to deliver Justice was not on the cards. Therefore some sections of Sikhs sought out to mete justice themselves, in response Govt. started extra-judicial killings(or was it vice versa?). Ultimately, vigilantism became a case of diminishing returns and also turned public anger and sympathy against Sikhs.

However, now that Sikhs have been integrated once again into the society and have gained power, secessionist movements are dead, media is stronger, govt culpable(debatable), there is a desire to extract justice in a legal and constitutional manner. This shows that they have re-affirmed their faith in the State.

My 2 paisa, even though I am a great believer in our justice system, I still feel that those guilty will not get punishment.
ut it is important to not indulge in vigilantism but in constitutional methods. Even if the Sikhs don't get justice, atleast we should ensure that the future Indians will not have to suffer such a travesty of justice.
 

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Sikh organisation in america placed 1 million $$ to convict him.

why not pay 1 million $$ to any hit man in India , he will kill 10 sajjan kumar..

why this drama??
Because that's exactly how the last Khalistani insurgency started. People often forget that. The tensions are already simmering under the pot, which you see coming out more often these days. Give it more time, and I can already see some disillusioned youths again carrying out assassinations against the controversial politicians. Than it is back to square one.
 

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For several reasons

At the time for Sikhs to expect Justice and for Govt to deliver Justice was not on the cards. Therefore some sections of Sikhs sought out to mete justice themselves, in response Govt. started extra-judicial killings(or was it vice versa?). Ultimately, vigilantism became a case of diminishing returns and also turned public anger and sympathy against Sikhs.

However, now that Sikhs have been integrated once again into the society and have gained power, secessionist movements are dead, media is stronger, govt culpable(debatable), there is a desire to extract justice in a legal and constitutional manner. This shows that they have re-affirmed their faith in the State.

My 2 paisa, even though I am a great believer in our justice system, I still feel that those guilty will not get punishment.
ut it is important to not indulge in vigilantism but in constitutional methods. Even if the Sikhs don't get justice, atleast we should ensure that the future Indians will not have to suffer such a travesty of justice.
I also think justice will not come as the Sikhs desire and who may even be justified in asking for it. The Prosecution case is weak and evidence destroyed, though Phoolka said he will battle on!

I was rather surprised to hear a Sikh protester tell on TV that the carnage in Delhi was greater than in Gujarat and while 29 (did he say that IIRC) in Gujarat have been convicted with death/life (?), the same has not been seen in the Anti Sikh riots.

To be frank, I am not too sure if justice is delivered in this country. It all depends on the investigation and the prosecution and we know how the political parties manipulate the CBI. The skeleton is out of the cupboard!
 

Ray

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Because that's exactly how the last Khalistani insurgency started. People often forget that. The tensions are already simmering under the pot, which you see coming out more often these days. Give it more time, and I can already see some disillusioned youths again carrying out assassinations against the controversial politicians. Than it is back to square one.
It was ignited as a intra Congress political fight for supremacy and dubious 'tools' were used for their purpose.
 

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I also think justice will not come as the Sikhs desire and who may even be justified in asking for it. The Prosecution case is weak and evidence destroyed, though Phoolka said he will battle on!
I mentioned this elsewhere. If the Govt is indeed in ensuring some closure, and intent in not seeing such incidents, then something akin to a truth and reconciliation committee may be instituted. The guilty may not hang, but atleast the truth may come out.

I was rather surprised to hear a Sikh protester tell on TV that the carnage in Delhi was greater than in Gujarat and while 29 (did he say that IIRC) in Gujarat have been convicted with death/life (?), the same has not been seen in the Anti Sikh riots.
Carnage in Delhi was indeed greater than Gujarat's. But killings in smaller towns, villages etc have not even been documented. There are many anecdotes about entire sikh populations being culled.

To be frank, I am not too sure if justice is delivered in this country. It all depends on the investigation and the prosecution and we know how the political parties manipulate the CBI. The skeleton is out of the cupboard!
Absolutely.
 

Singh

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Because that's exactly how the last Khalistani insurgency started. People often forget that. The tensions are already simmering under the pot, which you see coming out more often these days. Give it more time, and I can already see some disillusioned youths again carrying out assassinations against the controversial politicians. Than it is back to square one.
I don't think this will ignite another movement, but might increase support for some radicals. In any case, one reason some of these politicians weren't assassinated was exactly to prevent going back to square one.
 

Ray

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I mentioned this elsewhere. If the Govt is indeed in ensuring some closure, and intent in not seeing such incidents, then something akin to a truth and reconciliation committee may be instituted. The guilty may not hang, but atleast the truth may come out.



Carnage in Delhi was indeed greater than Gujarat's. But killings in smaller towns, villages etc have not even been documented. There are many anecdotes about entire sikh populations being culled.



Absolutely.
Rather well said and very rational.

Maybe we should have a Truth and Reconciliation for all Riots right from the earlier days.

Wipe the slate clean and start afresh and take very serious view on any riots thereafter, without any political angling.

But the issue is that for Truth and Reconciliation, one will have to have giants amongst leaders whose views will be accepted by all involved. Sadly, everything has been so politicised, that the reality has been lost and it has become real murky where wading through it will be a Herculean task requiring great will to achieve!
 

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It was ignited as a intra Congress political fight for supremacy and dubious 'tools' were used for their purpose.
Khalistan insurgency only took off after the Delhi Riots.
 

Ray

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Khalistan insurgency only took off after the Delhi Riots.
One could say so that it became full blown.

But the genesis starts with the Khalistani movement and Gandhi - Gyani propping up Bhindrenwale to unseat Darbara.

In the state elections of 1980, he was elected to Punjab Legislative Assembly from Nakodar, and was appointed as Chief Minister on February 17, 1980. The 1980s were a turbulent time in the history of Punjab marked by an increase in violence and demand for a separate Sikh homeland, Sardar Darbara Singh remained Chief Minister for three years. During this time his government was grappling with the rising Khalistani militancy in the state. There was a spate of assassinations, prime among them being the daylight murder of Lala Jagat Narain, Head of the Punjab Kesri group of newspapers of Jalandhar. This was followed by the assassination of DIG of Punjab Police Jalandhar range Avtar Singh Atwal in the Golden Temple Complex. Due to increase in terrorist violence, the tenure of the ministry was cut short and the Darbara Singh ministry resigned and President's Rule was imposed in the state under Art.356 of Indian Constitution on June 6, 1983.

Wiki

Mrs Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31 October 1984.

Anti Sikh riots started the same day.
 
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Tronic

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One could say so that it became full blown.

But the genesis starts with the Khalistani movement and Gandhi - Gyani propping up Bhindrenwale to unseat Darbara.

In the state elections of 1980, he was elected to Punjab Legislative Assembly from Nakodar, and was appointed as Chief Minister on February 17, 1980. The 1980s were a turbulent time in the history of Punjab marked by an increase in violence and demand for a separate Sikh homeland, Sardar Darbara Singh remained Chief Minister for three years. During this time his government was grappling with the rising Khalistani militancy in the state. There was a spate of assassinations, prime among them being the daylight murder of Lala Jagat Narain, Head of the Punjab Kesri group of newspapers of Jalandhar. This was followed by the assassination of DIG of Punjab Police Jalandhar range Avtar Singh Atwal in the Golden Temple Complex. Due to increase in terrorist violence, the tenure of the ministry was cut short and the Darbara Singh ministry resigned and President's Rule was imposed in the state under Art.356 of Indian Constitution on June 6, 1983.

Wiki

Mrs Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31 October 1984.

Anti Sikh riots started the same day.

1980-1983 was not the Khalistan insurgency. That wave came after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Young Sikh youth, who could not care less about Bhinderenwala or the Congress party flocked to pick up arms against the state after the anti-Sikh riots. All these militants were not all fanatics brainwashed by Bhinderenwala, as has been made out to be, but articulate and well educated youth who felt disillusioned by the system.

Below is an interview of Ranjit Singh Gill (Kuki Gill). He, along with Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Harjinder Singh Jinda assassinated Lalit Maken, a Congress leader who is alleged to have had a hand in the anti-Sikh riots.




People like Rajoana, Bhullar, Kuki, etc, did not pick up arms because of Bhinderenwala, but due to disillusionment with the Indian system, post-84.
 
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