‘No Delhi police officer should probe 1984 riots’
3 Feb 2014 4:41 AM IST
Relatives of the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots have demanded that the proposed special investigation team (SIT) to investigate into the massacre must not have a single officer from the Delhi police as police officers were also culprits. In a letter written to Chief Justice of India (CJI), All India Sikh Conference (Babbar) has demanded that honest police officers from North East, Kerala or South India should be roped in to set up the SIT for fair investigation. In the letter written to the CJI on 28 January, the conference has demanded to consider it as writ petition.
‘Senior police officers including the then police commissioner of Delhi, Subhas Tandon, Lieutenant Governor PG Gavai, DCPs, ACPs and station house officers (SHOs) had not only shielded the rioters but provoked them to kill innocent Sikhs,’ said Gurucharan Singh Babbar, president of AISC in his letter to the CJI. ‘Some of the accused officers are still working in Delhi police while some others are drawing pensions. If they are questioned, the truth of the anti-Sikh riots will start tumbling out,’ he added. The Sikh body, which is fighting for the rights of riot victims since the last 30 years, claimed that every time they demanded justice from the government a commission or a committee was set up but nothing happened. ‘So far, 18 investigating committees were set up one after the other but it was all deception,’ he said. Babbar also released a list of 72 police officers who were, according to him, directly involved or plotted the massacre of people during the riots. The list includes 7 DCPs, 12 ACPs, 36 inspectors/ sub-inspectors and assistant SIs, head constables and constables.
‘On 5 December 1984, I went to Seelampur police station to register an FIR against those who killed my younger brother and his father-in-law but the SHO threw the complaint into the dustbin and asked me to not talk about the massacre,’said Sattu Singh (80), with eyes in tears. The relatives of the victims broke into tears while remembering those days of horror. ‘Every institution, from courts to police to media to politicians to NGOs, failed us,’ said Darshan Kaur, a victim.
‘Last rites of even terrorists killed in parliament attack were performed, but what happened to dead bodies of over 5,000 Sikhs killed in 1984?,’ asked Babbar.
Babbar who was a journalist in the city said, ‘I had to take shelter in the house of my friend Inder Kumar Gujral, who later became the prime minister of country, but he also did nothing.’
The victims have pinned their hopes on the SIT, but said a special team of judges should also be formed to fast track the cases. ‘If the government or Supreme Court desires, evidences will surely be dug out’ he said.
‘Senior police officers including the then police commissioner of Delhi, Subhas Tandon, Lieutenant Governor PG Gavai, DCPs, ACPs and station house officers (SHOs) had not only shielded the rioters but provoked them to kill innocent Sikhs,’ said Gurucharan Singh Babbar, president of AISC in his letter to the CJI. ‘Some of the accused officers are still working in Delhi police while some others are drawing pensions. If they are questioned, the truth of the anti-Sikh riots will start tumbling out,’ he added. The Sikh body, which is fighting for the rights of riot victims since the last 30 years, claimed that every time they demanded justice from the government a commission or a committee was set up but nothing happened. ‘So far, 18 investigating committees were set up one after the other but it was all deception,’ he said. Babbar also released a list of 72 police officers who were, according to him, directly involved or plotted the massacre of people during the riots. The list includes 7 DCPs, 12 ACPs, 36 inspectors/ sub-inspectors and assistant SIs, head constables and constables.
‘On 5 December 1984, I went to Seelampur police station to register an FIR against those who killed my younger brother and his father-in-law but the SHO threw the complaint into the dustbin and asked me to not talk about the massacre,’said Sattu Singh (80), with eyes in tears. The relatives of the victims broke into tears while remembering those days of horror. ‘Every institution, from courts to police to media to politicians to NGOs, failed us,’ said Darshan Kaur, a victim.
‘Last rites of even terrorists killed in parliament attack were performed, but what happened to dead bodies of over 5,000 Sikhs killed in 1984?,’ asked Babbar.
Babbar who was a journalist in the city said, ‘I had to take shelter in the house of my friend Inder Kumar Gujral, who later became the prime minister of country, but he also did nothing.’
The victims have pinned their hopes on the SIT, but said a special team of judges should also be formed to fast track the cases. ‘If the government or Supreme Court desires, evidences will surely be dug out’ he said.
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