Sarjit Singh, Ph.D. Professor of Economics (Retd)
Nov 1984 massacre of Sikhs by the communal forces (led by the. Party leaders and their minions) are not likely to heal because the Hindu forces won’t let them. Evidently their intent is to keep them raw as they recently demonstrated by enacting one more horror filled “drama”. This time, a Hindu lynch mob Swooped Upon a Sikh family of 7 members (S00 miles away from Punjab in 4 state, Uttar Pradesh, ruled by the Congress from the center in which the criminals hold cabinet posts),
This family (consisting of Anup Singh Minhas, the Superintendent of Punjab police Vigilance, his wife Prabhjot Kaur, his daughter, his son-in-law, his Son, his daughter-in-law, and his two years old grandson) was on its way home after 10days vacation in the eastern part of India when it became a target of vicious attacks by the goons in the presence of more than a thousand passengers and a railway police guard. None came to their rescue. For the family it was a nightmare 8 hours long; and it was its own courage which saved them from the jaws of death,
The family started its return journey on July 12, and boarded Howrah Amiitsar mail (fast) train, occupying an air conditioned cabin in one of its cars. At about 8 a.m. the following day the train reached Moghul Sarai railway Station where 10-15 rowdyish looking riders of the college student age barged in the same compartment in which the Sikh family was travelling. Soon they began misbehaving with Mr.Minhas’s daughter and daughter-in-law. But Minhas and son drove them out. About 15 minutes after its departure, the tram made an impromptu Slop as its Chain (advice to stop a train in emergency) had been pulled by someone. The same group of people now armed with clubs and iron bars forcibly entered the compartment shouting, and attacked the family. Minhas and his son (with some help from fellow passengers within the compartment) again forced them out. The goons, having failed once more to reenter the compartment through a different door, began throwing stones at the location occupied by the family and broke to pieces some of the glass windows. While this attack was on, the railway police party consisting of a sub inspector (S.P. Singh), a havildar (wearing three stripes) and a constable stood silently and watched. After about 45 minutes, the train left.
Parabhjot Kaur said the family feared signs of more trouble to come, accordingly they vacated the seats exposed to windows and occupied either the upper “sleepers” or lay on the floor to avoid any injury from stones coming through. During then extra in stop at Kashi, the family remained inside their cabin in view of what had happened before. The train then, just short of 2 kilometers from Banares Railway station, made another unscheduled stop. 20 to 25 persons alighted from it and went to a nearby village. The family speculated that these per sons might have gone to an educational institution in the vicinity, hoping their ordeal to be over.
It was not to be, The train did not resume its journey for consider able length of time, The family became apprehensive again, After about a half an hour, a crowd appeared from that village carrying lighting devices, iron bars, tires and kerosene oil cans and advanced towards the train. They shouted that they wanted the Sikh family handed over to them as a condition for the release of the train. Mercifully no one opened the door of the compartment. A few minutes the compartment began to be pelted with stones again. All glass windows were shattered to pieces. Stones accumulated all over the floor. The goons, once more, tried to get in by forcibly Opening the doors but remained unsuccessful.
To avoid injury, the other passengers inside the compartment had similarly removed themselves from the seats near the windows and lay on the floor or the upper “sleepers”, The goons seemed determined to kill the Sikh family. They began setting the compartment on fire by lighting the wheels and placing them under it. Realizing the danger of being burnt alive, and preferring to die facing the goons, Minhas loaded his service revolver, got down the train, advanced quickly towards the attackers, and fired. The crowd re treated, The train was saved from being set on fire. But he was pelted with stones, some hitting him on the face, Although profusely bloodied, he managed to come back to the compartment and became semi conscious. The cabin too became blood soaked. In a sense of despondency, Parabhjot Kaur handed over their two years old grandson and some valuables to a fellow passenger (an army colonel) with a request to deliver the child at the provided address should the family not survive.
The goons approached nearer, This time Mr.Minhas’s son got hold of the revolver and fired to wards the crowd. It retreated again. In the meantime another train carrying kerosene oil or diesel in its wagons arrived on the other pair of lines, It too was stopped by them. From it, they tried to drain oil. The impending “death dance” lasted for two hours during which the train did not move nor did the police help arrive.
Finally a police party of 70 led by a superintendent of police of Benaras and a district magistrate arrived, only to become a party of onlookers. At this stage, Parabhjot Kaur alighted from the train and shouted that her husband is a senior police officer, and that he has been wounded seriously and needed medical attention. Five to seven minutes after of her loud appeals, some one from the crowd threw another stone, Only then, the police moved to disperse the crowd and escorted the train 10 Benaras where the family received first aid, The medical doctor told Mr. Minhas that he had to be treated in hospital since his nose had been fractured. He declined. After his return he got himself treated at the civil hospital in Jullundur, his place of work. Parabhjot Kaur kept on repeating the questions “Are not the Sikhs citizens of India? Is it the way to make India strong by humiliating Sikhs who are making an honorable living?”.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 27, 1993
