SC should apologise to victims of ’84 riots: Phoolka
Senior advocate HS Phoolka, who has been fighting to get justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, today demanded an apology from the Supreme Court for allegedly turning a blind eye to the massacre of Sikhs in the national capital.
Addressing a press conference on the 40th anniversary of the riots here, Phoolka faulted the SC and its judges for not intervening to stop the massacre of Sikhs.
The events of 1984 marked not only the murder of countless citizens but also the death of justice itself. HS Phoolka
“The events of 1984 marked not only the murder of countless citizens but also the death of justice itself. The entire legal system collapsed; the statue of Lady Justice, blindfolded, reflected the blindness of judges, who failed to see the atrocities occurring around them, in the courts and their own neighbourhoods. Judicial activism seemed to vanish when it came to the Sikh genocide,” Phoolka said.
“It wasn’t until 2017 (33 years later) that the SC began to take an active interest in punishing the perpetrators of this genocide,” he said, appreciating Justice Dipak Misra for setting up a new special investigation team (SIT) to have a relook into previously closed matters, leading to reopening of several cases.
Releasing 12 videos on various aspects of the 40-year-journey to get justice for the victims, Phoolka termed it “an unending quest for justice”. “This video series is about how efforts were made everywhere to save the culprits instead of punishing them. The second demand made by the victims today is that the SC should apologise for the failure of the judiciary in delivering justice to the victims. The judiciary has failed completely till now,” he said.
Phoolka said 15 commissions and committees looked into the riots in Delhi but only 50 accused were convicted in 12 cases despite the fact that 2,733 Sikhs were killed and 3,033 injured, as per official figures.
“At least 10,000 people must have been involved in the massacre of Sikhs across Delhi but only 50 accused have got convicted in 12 cases…What kind of justice is this,” asked Phoolka, who was flanked by riot victims Darshan Kaur and Sonia Kaur and some children of victims, besides advocate Kamana Vohra, a fellow advocate fighting to get justice for the victims.
Both Darshan Kaur and Sonia Kaur broke down while narrating the gory sequence of events of the riots in which they lost 11 and four of their family members, respectively. Darshan Kaur’s granddaughter Ishpreet Kaur and Sonia’s Kaur’s children Gurpreet Kaur and Ishmeet Singh were also present during the event.
Around 3,000 people, mostly Sikhs, had died in the riots in the national capital in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984.
Delhi Congress leader and former MP Sajjan Kumar is serving life imprisonment for the “remainder of his natural life” after being convicted by the Delhi High Court on December 17, 2018, in a case relating to the killing of five Sikhs in Raj Nagar, Part I area, Palam Colony, South West Delhi, on November 1 and 2, 1984, and the burning down of a gurdwara in Raj Nagar, Part II. His appeal against conviction and sentence is pending in the SC, which has refused to grant him bail.
A Delhi court on September 13 framed charges of murder and other offences against another Delhi Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a case related to the killing of three Sikhs — Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Guru Charan Singh — in the Pul Bangash area of the national capital during the riots.
However, claiming that he was a victim of “witch-hunt”, Tytler has challenged the framing of charges against him before the Delhi High Court, contending that the trial court’s order was perverse, illegal and lacked application of mind. His plea is expected to be taken up on November 29.
