“Please spare the lives of innocent members of my family,” pleaded Hazara Singh, 50, to rioters on the fateful evening of November 1, 1984. He and his three sons was the target of mob frenzy. His request went unheeded. Instead, his folded hands were chopped off. He was beaten up mercilessly with iron rods. Simultaneously, his three sons, Kulwant Singh, 27, Jagtar Singh, 23, and Harmit Singh, 20, were dragged out of the house and beaten to death. After bashing them, the heap of half dead bodies was doused in kerosense and set on fire. The rioters celebrated and danced around the bonfire. After gruesome murders they continued to set aflame room after room of house no. A68, Hari Nagar Ashram, New Delhi. But they took care to first loot the movables.
Hazara Singh had already witnessed mob frenzy in the morning of that fateful day when his new Ambassador car and motorcycle were set on fire. While all this was happening, the police did come but did nothing. Shameful for uniformed men whose job it is to protect people and to maintain law and order. They shook hands with the rioters and jointly raised slogans like “Khoon Ka Badla Khoon” (Blood for Blood) and “Maro Sardaron Ko” (Kill the Sikhs) said Sarabjit Kaur, widow of Kulwant Singh.
The murder of the bread winners has left the family penniless. Sarbjit, 25, and Harvinder Kaur, 21, are widowed. Jasbir Kaur, 19, Provider, six, Ravinder, five, Ashu, two, and Sonny about three months old, are orphaned. The widows have no male member to look after them.
The above plaint of victims is not the last but the first to have been filed in the Delhi High Court by KTS Tulsi, Advocate of Tulsi and company, Chandigarh. The plaint demands full compensation of Rs 1,744,000, on the basis of the eyewitnesses. The defendants in the plaint include the Lt.Governor of Delhi, the concerned police officials and, of course, the rioters.
Advocate Tulsi informed, “This is the first claim case of riot victims. We intend to file thousands of such cases and claim full compensations on behalf of the victims. Compensation grant of Rs 10,000 by the Government is a farce.”
Article extracted from this publication >> June 14, 1985
