News Analysis India

Tag: Anti Sikh Riots

  • Ex-Supreme Court judge Girish Thakorlal Nanavati who probed Godhra, anti-Sikh riots passes away at 86

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Former Supreme Court judge Justice Girish Thakorlal Nanavati, who investigated the 1984 anti-Sikh and the 2002 Godhra riots, passed away on Saturday.

    He was 86.

    The former Supreme Court judge died of a cardiac failure at 1:15 pm on Saturday in Gujarat, family members said.

    Nanavati, born on February 17, 1935, was enrolled as an advocate in the Bombay High Court on February 11, 1958.

    He was appointed as permanent Judge of the Gujarat High Court from July 19, 1979, and transferred to the Orissa High Court on December 14, 1993.

    Nanavati was appointed as the chief justice of the Orissa High Court with effect from January 31, 1994.

    He was transferred as Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court from September 28, 1994.

    Nanavati was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court with effect from March 6, 1995, and retired on February 16, 2000.

    Justices Nanavati and Akshay Mehta had in 2014 submitted their final report on the 2002 riots to the then Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel.

    Over 1,000 people, mainly from the minority community, were killed in the violence.

    The commission was appointed in 2002 by the then chief minister Narendra Modi to probe the riots, that took place after the burning of two coaches of the Sabarmati Express train near the Godhra railway station, in which 59 ‘karsevaks’ died.

    Nanavati was appointed by the NDA government to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

    He was the sole member of the Nanavati commission.

  • Punjab polls: Ajay Maken in top Congress post irks Amarinder, Akalis

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: Amarinder Singh today lashed out at the Congress high command for appointing Ajay Maken as the Chairman of the Screening Committee for shortlisting candidates for the 2022 assembly elections in Punjab. Maken is nephew of Lalit Maken, who was one of the main culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. 

    Amarinder said that the Congress could not have nominated a worst person than Maken, at a time when the central government is moving ahead with prosecution of another culprit, Sajjan Kumar, while the Congress is rewarding the Makens and that too in Punjab, thus rubbing salt into Punjabis’ wounds.

    “The Congress party should have avoided naming someone like Maken, as the name itself draws derision and revulsion in Punjab for the involvement of his late uncle in the anti-Sikh riots where innocent victims were burnt alive to death”, the former chief minister said, while adding, even otherwise Maken was not qualified enough to head the Screening Committee with veteran leaders like Ambika Soni and Sunil Jakhar being kept under him.

    The Shiromani Akali Dal also questioned his appointment and said that it indicated the concern that the Gandhi family and the Congress high command have for the Sikhs and their sentiments Maken, who is the Congress general secretary, was appointed the chairman of the screening committee for the shortlisting of candidates for the Punjab Assembly polls.

    Singh also dubbed Maken a “failed politician”, saying under him the party lost two successive Assembly polls in Delhi.

    “Maken is the nephew of Lalit Maken, who was one of the main culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi. The Congress could not have nominated a worse person than Maken for the job,” the former chief minister said in a statement.

    Singh said while the Centre is going ahead with the “prosecution of another culprit, Sajjan Kumar, the Congress is rewarding the Makens and that too in Punjab, thus rubbing salt into Punjabis’ wounds”.

    “The Congress should have avoided naming someone like Maken as the name itself draws derision and revulsion in Punjab for the involvement of his late uncle in the anti-Sikh riots where innocent victims were burnt alive to death,” he said.

    Reacting to Maken’s appointment, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a statement said, “This is a true indicator of the concern that the Gandhi family and the Congress high command have for the Sikhs and their sentiments.”

    Asking the Congress what message it was sending to the Sikh community by making Maken the chairman of the committee, he claimed that the party was bent upon spoiling communal peace in Punjab by resorting to such appointments.

    “It is clear that the Gandhi family is following its age-old policy of divide and rule by deliberately inflaming passions and creating a wedge among different sections of society,” the SAD leader alleged.

    Majithia also expressed surprise that neither Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi nor his deputy Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa or state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu had objected to Maken’s appointment.

    Singh, meanwhile, claimed that Maken was not qualified enough to head the screening committee with veteran leaders like Ambika Soni and Sunil Jakhar under him.

    He claimed that Maken had presided over two successive defeats of the party in the Delhi Assembly elections, drawing back-to-back blanks.

    “With someone who has presided over the virtual wiping out of the party in Delhi, now being handed over the job in Punjab, the fate of the party can be anybody’s guess,” he said.

    “After ensuring that the Congress gets zero seats in two successive elections in Delhi in 2014 and 2019, he has now been dispatched to ensure that the same feat is achieved in Punjab as well,” Singh said.

    The former chief minister said this clearly indicates that the Congress has admitted to defeat before the elections by appointing “a failed politician”, who lost the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, losing even his deposit in the Vidhan Sabha.

    Singh was forced to resign as the Punjab chief minister amid a power tussle with Sidhu.

    He floated his own party Punjab Lok Congress to fight the elections.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • NCM seeks reports from several states on relief steps taken for 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Thirty-seven years after the horrific 1984 anti-Sikh riots claimed thousands of lives, some survivors of the communal violence are yet to receive relief measures announced by the government, the National Commission for Minorities has observed and sought reports from several states in the matter.

    “Though several relief packages were announced by the Government of India and state governments, there are several instances where the relief measures announced have not reached those families. Despite 37 years having elapsed since 31 October 1984, these cases are still lingering,” NCM chairperson Iqbal Singh Lalpura stated, in a communication sent to eight states/Union territories. 

    Delhi, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have been directed to submit reports to the commission and provide “details of the riot victims [in their states], compensation that has been provided so far and the action taken against criminals in each and every case.”

    The NCM passed the order after having received various representations in this regard, the minorities’ panel said. The Commission said it has taken the initiative to ensure that justice delayed is not denied.

    “The 1984 anti-Sikh riots are a dark spot in the country’s history wherein thousands of innocent persons belonging to the Sikh community were brutally massacred, dislocated and harassed physically emotionally and also destroyed economically,” the commission stated as it directed concerned officials of the states to submit detailed reports in the matter.

  • BJP attacks Congress over Jagdish Tytler’s appointment as permanent invitee to DPCC

    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Friday accused the Congress of reopening old wounds of Sikhs by appointing anti-Sikh riots accused Jagdish Tytler as a permanent invitee to its Delhi state committee.The Congress, however, said Tytler was appointed to the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) as he is a former MP from the city and accused the BJP of “trying to create confusion”.Seeking to corner the Congress government in poll-bound Punjab, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia asked Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to make it clear whether he agrees with the appointment which has “angered” the entire country.Bhatia said the 1984 riots are the “biggest black spot” on Indian democracy.Alleging that the riots were Congress-sponsored violence, he said the party never gave justice to Sikhs and it is the BJP which has been working on it.The opposition has reopened the Sikh community’s old wounds by appointing Tytler to the key body of its Delhi state organisation, he added.”Is this honour for Tytler? Giving him this protection is appropriate on the part of Sonia Gandhi?” he said, noting that all such appointments are approved by the Congress president.”While the BJP is trying to give the victim families justice and bring the guilty to book, the Congress’ message to the accused is that don’t worry, the Gandhi family is with you,” Bhatia alleged, asserting that Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was convicted in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case due to the efforts of the BJP government.The BJP leader referred to the report of a commission which had probed the riots to highlight the suspected involvement of Tytler, who was once a powerful Congress leader in the national capital.However, his fortunes declined as his alleged role in the violence aimed at Sikhs following the assassination of Indira Gandhi came to the fore.Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said Tytler was appointed to the committee as he is a former parliamentarian from Delhi.The BJP is trying to create confusion, Khera said.He also asked whether the prime minister should resign if the Supreme Court is looking into the Gujarat riots , referring to the apex court saying it would like to peruse the closure report of the Special Investigation Team giving the clean chit to 64 people, including Narendra Modi who was the Gujarat chief minister during the 2002 riots in the state, and the justification given by the magisterial court while accepting it.

  • Decades after anti-Sikh riots, Uttar Pradesh cops examine crime scene again

    By PTI

    KANPUR: A special investigation team is re-examining the scene of a crime decades after two men were allegedly murdered and their bodies set on fire in their house here during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

    Crucial evidence, including blood samples, has been lifted this week from a locked house in city’s Govind Nagar, attacked by a mob during the anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

    The SIT, formed by the Yogi Adityanath government on the orders of the Supreme Court, entered the locked house with a forensic team on Tuesday, Superintendent of Police (SIT), Balendu Bhushan said.

    After Delhi, Kanpur was among the worse-hit by the violence.

    Teja Singh (45) and his son Satpal Singh (22) were killed on November 1, 1984.

    The SIT has got the statement of Teja Singh’s surviving son, Charanjeet Singh — now 61 and a resident of Delhi — recorded before a special magistrate.

    The witness narrated the horrific episode and disclosed the identities of those allegedly involved in the murders.

    The surviving members of Teja Singh’s family had sold off the Kanpur house and moved first to Punjab and then Delhi.

    A Kanpur sub-inspector filed the FIR.

    SP Bhushan said the crime scene was undisturbed as the new occupants stayed on the first floor.

    The ground floor rooms where the murders took place remained locked.

    The SIT entered the house in the presence of an eyewitness to the attack who lived in the same area.

    Bhushan said the forensic science laboratory determined that the blood samples collected were of human beings, which confirmed that killings had taken place there.

    Earlier this year, the SIT had collected blood samples from a house in Kanpur’s Naubasta area.

    It too had been locked up after a similar attack.

    The Uttar Pradesh SIT was formed to revisit cases filed after the 1984 riots.

    The Kanpur SSP provided the SIT with a list of 40 cases of serious nature.

    Of them, the Kanpur Police had filed charge sheets in 11 cases and final reports in the remaining 29, which lacked substantial evidence.

    But the accused were acquitted in all 11 cases with the trial court citing lack of evidence.

    “We have sought permission from the state government to file an appeal against the judgment of lower courts in five cases,” Bhushan said.

    “We are still waiting for the government nod.”

    The SIT also started further investigations in the 29 cases closed by Kanpur Police and hopes to file charge-sheet in some of them.