NEW DELHI: Riot victims of November 1984 in large numbers marched to the residence of the Union Home Minister, Buta Singh here on Friday demanding his resignation for failure to bring the perpetrators of the crime to book.
They were however, stopped by the police near the Ministers residence.
The demonstrators numbering over 200, raised slogans and carried placards. They had assembled under the banner of the All India Sikh Conference (Babbar).
However, other rival groups mobilized supporters for a demonstration under the banner of a Riot Victims Action Committee. The committee leaders, Dalbir Singh and Charan Singh Fauji, demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the assets of Gurcharan Singh Babbar, general secretary of the other group.
Later in a memorandum to the Home Minister, the Babbar group. demonstrators alleged that he was shielding the criminals of the November 1984 riots and that he had misled Parliament recently by stating that the Congress (I) leader, Sajjan Kumar, “had no hand in the riots.”
They also demanded compensation of Rs 1 lakh each for each family member of the those killed in the riots, besides Rs 2,500 per month to each of the living victims, free houses and action against those responsible, which would the said, help rehabilitate about 900 families comprising mainly widows and orphaned children.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 9, 1989
