CONCLUSION

The social and political consequences of the Government’s stance during the carnage, its deliberate inaction and its callousness towards relief and rehabilitation are far reaching. It is indeed a matter of grave concern that the government has made no serious inquiries into the entire tragic episode which seems to be so well planned and designed.

It is curious that for the seven hours that the government had between the time of Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination and official announcement of her death, no security arrangements were made for the victims.

 The dubious role of the politicians belonging to the ruling party has been highlighted in various press reports. The government, under pressure, has changed a few faces by transfers and suspension of Junior Officers.

It is important that we do not fall for this ploy, for our investigation reveals that these are only scapegoats.

The riots were well organised and were of unprecedented brutality. Several very disturbing questions arise that must be answered:

1. What was the government and the administration doing for seven hours between the time of the assassination and the announcement of Mrs. Gandhi’s death?
2. Why did the government refuse to take cognisance of the reports of the looting and murders and call in the troops even after alerting them?
3. Why have few individual Congress (I) leaders close to the Prime Minister been allowed to arrogate to themselves powers belonging to ministers and officials?
4. Why was there no joint control room set up and who was responsible for not giving clear and specific instructions to the army on curbing violence and imposing curfew?
5. Who was responsible for the planned and deliberate police inaction and often active role in inciting the murder and loot?
6. Who was responsible for the plannned and directed arson?
7. Why were highly provocative slogans (Khan ka badla khun-blood for blood) allowed to be broadcast by Doordarshan during the recording of the mourning crowd at Teen Murti?
8. Why has the Congress (I) not set up an inquiry into the role of its members in the arson and looting?

DEMANDS

1. A public high level inquiry into the role of the government and the ruling party in planning, instigating and executing the riots between October 31 and November first week, and immediate publication of the report of inquiry.
2. Exemplary punishment of those found guilty by they inquiry committee according to the law.
3. A well formulated and clear cut policy on relief and rehabilitation and effective machinery for its immediate implementation.

 POSTSCRIPT

 Since the publication of our report, the administration as well as the ruling party have shown little inclination to punish the guilty and rehabilitate the survivors. Various schemes were announced, which themselves were piece-meal and lacked a comprehensive approach. Their implementation has been chaotic and suffers from serious shortcomings. Further, the ruling party besides continuing to protect the alleged criminals, is now trying to rationalize the events that took place in Delhi in the first week of November.

Voluntary agencies, in the course of their relief and rehabilitation work in the camps, are finding it difficult to continue their work because of the obstructions put up by an unsympathetic bureaucracy, and because of the terror created by the criminals at large who are now tampering with evidence, threatening witnesses and coming in the way of compensation claimants.

COMPENSATION AND RELIEF

 The Administration had announced a relief scheme on November 6 (reported in newspapers) which promised a compensation of Rs. 10,000 to the nearest relative of each dead person; Rs. 5,000 to the grievously injured and Rs. 2,000 to the not so seriously injured. Similarly, Rs. 10,000 was also to be given to those who had lost their homes, Rs. 5,000 for seriously damaged dwelling units and Rs. 2,000 for damaged units. However, when the printed forms were circulated, there was no mention of the Rs. 5,000 that was promised for either the injured victims or the damaged houses.

The compensation forms were not available to more than half of the 50,000 displaced persons, since these people were in the relief camps (mostly Gurudwaras) which were not recognized by the Administration. As a result voluntary agencies and Gurudwaras printed their own compensation forms and tried to reach them to the affected people.

The Lt. Governor, Mr. Wali on November 20, 1984, said that the Delhi Administration had received 14,946 applications of which only 5,089 were found to be genuine and the rejection rate was 44.63%. The Lt. Governor did not bother to find out why they were rejected. He refused to recognise the fact that the process of paying compensation to the displaced people is being short-circulated because those who do the verification of the forms are often the police. For instance, the SHO who is named as one of the instigators of the violence at Sultanpuri has been accompanying the magistrate for verification. On other occasion the local Congress (I) leaders have been creating terror and telling the police that the claims are false. I n Trilokpuri, Rampal Saroj, who was identified as a rapist and a killer, has been seen by both the volunteers of Nagrik Ekta Manch and Survivors accompanying the Magistrate. He was heard telling the magistrate that no one was killed in the Jhuggis and the compensation claims were all fraudulent.

The Manch volunteers did try to place these facts before the Lt. Governor in their meeting with him on November 16 but he refused to recognize even the locus standing of the Manch and said that the refugees must go back. The Administration continues to manipulate the figures and deliberately deprive people of even the measly compensation promised. For instance, according to a newspaper report on November 21, 1984, Mr. Wall said that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi made a survey of burnt shops and had come to the conclusion that 1,046 shops were burnt – this did not include hutments or kiosks. There is no compensation whatsoever being offered to shopkeepers who have lost their shops, to many autorickshaw-walas who have lost their vehicles, and to the several small factory owners who have lost their factories. As one Sardarji who had lost his three shops and is now at the Sadar Bazar Contonment Gurudwara camp said “Hum to Zinda Hi Mar Rahe Hain”. Such people are being offered loans with 121/2 per cent interest. This means, if he takes a loan of Rs. 30,000 he will have to pay as much as Rs. 300 per month as interest.

For those who have lost their means of livelihood, the Government has, offered only concessions on road tax and has said they will issue duplicate documents to industrialists if their’s have been destroyed. While banks have been authorised to release loans within 48 hours for those well-to-do Sikhs whose commercial activities were affected, for the poor and defenseless traders and shopkeepers (who comprise a majority of those affected), the process of receiving even a minimum decent level of compensation is fraught with difficulty.

The seriously injured have been offered a paltry sum of Rs. 1,000 and often the survivors have returned the money rather than suffer the indignity of accepting these insulting sums. For instance, in Sultanpuri, one survey made by two volunteers revealed that of the 270 houses damaged only 25 were paid compensation of which only one person was given the full amount of Rs. 10,000 each.

 REHABILITATION:

 Without any compensation, with the criminals still roaming about freely how can people be expected to go back to live amidst the ruins of their old houses, in the cinders, and ashes, which carry memories of their murdered relatives? The Admistration does not seem concerned about these human dimensions of the tragedy. Forcibly evicted from almost all the official camps, these people are now living out in the open in Shamianas or tents at the sites of their old residence. Concerned about the arbitrary and forceful eviction of people from the camps, the Nagrik Ekta Manch filed a petition in the Delhi High Court and obtained a stay on November 19 on further dismantling of the camps. It was also as a result of the direction of the High Court that the Administration was forced to recognize the camps in the Gurudwaras.

The people are not even able to recover their looted property which is lying at the police stations. They are driven from pillar to post and find that even half a dozen trips and affidavits filed in the court do not result in recovery of their looted goods. For instance, a teacher at Guru Hark ishan School has been trying to recover a projector which has a tag of the school. But despite that it has not been returned even on a Superdarig basis. One of the displaced people said that perhaps the only way to recover looted property was by raids on the police quarters.

INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION:

 From time to time the papers announce that the culprits are being arrested and investigation is being carried out. On November 24, the Indian Express reported that a special cell had been set up with the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. S.B. Deoll, as its Head to deal with complaints against the police. Further, Mr. Ved Marwah had assigned to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Narinder Rana, the specific tasks of investigating the role of the police at Trilokpuri.

A police handout of November 23, said that many police inspectors who had been accused had been “shifted”. Despite the innumerable complaints, and independent enquiry reports most of these police officers have not been suspended. So far, only the SHO of Sadar Thana (Cantonment), Inspector Rohtas Singh has been transferred to the security lines; similarly Hari Ram Bhatti, SHO of Sultanpuri has been transferred to Police Lines, Inspector O.P. Yadav of Srinivaspuri is another officer who has been `shifted out of the police station.’

According to one newspaper report over 1,000 persons were killed in East Delhi, 50,000 were victims of rioting and arson. The police have registered only 80 cases. Normally there should be a case for every complaint. Now there is a case for over 600 complaints. (Indian Express, November 23,1984).

Survivors have given details of the murderers, their description, addresses and specific charges, sometimes the number of the cars which came along at the time of riots. Despite this the police have refused to act on this information. Instead they seem to be busy manufacturing evidence to cover up its role. It has been trying to make women give statements that they do not recognize the killers and others when they take down the statements on behalf of the illiterate women they add a line or two of their own dilute the thrust of their allegations. The women discover this only when volunteers read out the statement.

The People’s Union for Democratic Rights and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties have filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court asking for an independent agency like the CBI to carry out the investigation and requesting the magistrate to conduct an indentification parade of the accused policemen and politicians. The petition has expressed the view that the proposed official investigation for prosecution of the culprits will prove futile, as they are being carried out by the police themselve who are responsible for the carnage. The petition is based on the present report and affidavits and recorded statements of numerous witnesses and survivors. For instance a freelance journalist saw two people being arrested by the army for trying to set on fire a Sikh house in Sultan purl on November 10 and then saw the police releasing them within a few hours.

 RESPONSE OF THE RULING PARTY:

 The attitude of the ruling party continues to be stubborn marked by a determined refusal to acknowledge facts which by now are openly recognised by everyone. The Prime Minister has not yet ordered any enquiry into the role of his party-men in the recent riots. The only indirect acceptance of the responsibility of his party-men is the dropping of two MPs. listed in our Annexure IV – Sajjan Kumar (Outer Delhi) and Dharam Dass Shastri (Karol Bagh) from the list of Congress (I) candidates for the elections. However. H.K. L. Bhagat, Lalit Makan and Jagdish Tytler have been given tickets – and thus clean chits by the Prime Minister.

Soon after the release of our report to the Press, the President of the Delhi Pradesh Congress (I) Committee, Mrs. Tajdar Babar in an official statement described the report as a “pack of lies” and alleged that we had never visited the camps but had written the report from our “cozy beds”. She sounded a warning by adding that if anything happened to her partymen, we would be held “squarely responsible.” Soon after this, on November 19, Mrs. Gandhi’s birthday, the Prime Minister in his speech at Boat Club, used the provocative term “badla” (revenge) while urging his followers to respond to Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination, although he added after a pause that the “badla” should be through the peaceful means of elections. Trying to rationalize the carnage and the riots that followed the assassination, he described the events as the shaking of the earth after the fall of a big tree. If this is the attitude of the ruling party, it protents an ominous future for not only civil liberties organizations in the country, but also for any law-abiding citizen who seeks to bring the guilty to book.

 RESPONSE OF THE PUBLIC:

 Many sections of the city’s intelligentsia have carried out independent investigations by visiting the camps and going to affected areas. They range from senior university professors and government officials to doctors, engineers, lawyers and students, from members of voluntary agencies and women’s groups to opposition parties (including 111P and CPM). They have unanimously come to the conclusion that the carnage was well organized and planned, that it was not spontaneous or a breakdown of the administration. It is their unanimous demand that a public enquiry be held. To mention a few among such efforts, we can refer to the exhaustive report on Nand Nagri by the CPM, a report by a team of 3 Delhi University professors and a professor of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies on Sultanpuri, and a Nagrik Ekta Manch report on Nanaksar Ashram.

Senior citizens of the city have constituted themselves into a commission of enquiry consisting of former Chief Justice S.M. Sikri and former Home Secretary Govinda Narayan and are carrying out in-depth interviews.

Various other efforts have also been under way. More than 20 organizations took out a procession from the Red Fort to the Boat Club on November 24, to demand that the culprits be punished and an official judicial inquiry be commissioned. Artists, painters theature people took out a peace march on November 17 with a banner with a famous line from Iqbal’s poem “Mahzab Nahin Sikhata Aapas Mein Vair Karna” (Religion does not preach mutual hatred).

While these efforts at analysis of the recent past continue, the immediate future looks bleak and uncertain to a large section of the population – both Sikhs and Hindus, as well as other minority groups.

Both the carnage and the continued apathy and even hostility by the Administration have reinforced a feeling of alienation among the Sikhs, many among whom have given up all hopes of receiving protection from the state in the face of any future attacks, In Delhi, while a number of Sikhs are emigrating to Punjab, those who have no traditional links with the Punjab (like the poor Sikhs of Trilokpuri and other resettlement colonies who are from Rajasthan) are reconciled to the fact of living here under a shadow of perpetual suspicion and terror. Muslims and Christians fear that a similar outrage can be perpetrated against them also at any provcation.

The Hindus on the other hand, are also gripped by a sense of fear about a possible backlash in the form of Sikh retaliation. Given prevailing weakness of secular forces – both in the administration and in public life – the possibility that the survivors might find a last resort in the camps of Sikh fundamentalists and separatists is creating apprehensions in the mind of those concerned about democratic values.