SIT: Sikh passengers dragged out of trains, killed; police arrested none
NEWDELHI:SIKH passengers were dragged out of trains and killed at railway stations in Delhi during the 1984 anti-sikh riots but the police did not arrest anyone from the spot saying that they were outnumbered, a Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team has said in its report.
The report of the speical investigation team (SIT), headed by retired Delhi high court judge Justice SN Dhingra, which supervised further probe into 186 cases, said there were five cases of killings by rioters who had attacked Sikh passengers travelling on trains and on railway stations.
It said these incidents had happened on November 1 and 2, 1984, at five railway stations of Delhi — Nangloi, Kishanganj, Dayabasti, Shahdara and Tuglakabad.
“In all these five cases, police were informed about the rioters having stopped the train and attacking Sikh passengers. The Sikh passengers were dragged out of trains and were beaten to death and burnt. The bodies were found scattered on the platforms and the railway lines,” the report said.
“The police had not arrested any of the rioters from the spot. The reasons for non-arrest were shown that the police was in very small number and that the rioters, after seeking police, had ran away,” it said.
It said that perusal of files revealed that FIRS were not registered by police incident-wise or crime-wise and instead, several complaints were clubbed in one FIR.
‘498 COMPLAINTS UNDER 1 FIR’
The report said that the then deputy commissioner of police (DCP) had sent 337 complaints received by him soon after the riots to Sultanpuri police station but an “omnibus” FIR was lodged in respect of all these incidents and thereafter all other complaints of killing and rioting were added in the same FIR.
It said one such FIR had complaints regarding 498 incidents and only one investigating officer was assigned to the case.
“In a few cases, FIRS were registered on the basis of a note given by a police official to station house officer stating about a victim identifying a person as rioter and also giving the name and address of victim,” it said.
“All these cases were closed on the ground that victim did not confirm to the information. It is obvious that these cases were registered by the police to give clean chit to certain persons,” the report said.
Regarding an FIR lodged at the Kalyanpuri police station in Delhi, the report said police had clubbed various cases and sent a ‘challan’ (police report) in respect of murder of 56 persons but the trial court had framed charges only in respect of killing of five.
498 COMPLAINTS UNDER 1 FIR, 1 PROBE OFFICER
The SIT said the Delhi Police clubbed 498 complaints (rioting, arson, looting, burning, causing injuries and murders) under an omnibus FIR, and just one investigating officer was assigned to this case.
“It was humanly impossible for one investigating officer to investigate 500 cases, to trace witnesses of each crime, to prepare challans and to proceed in the court against all the accused persons,” said the SIT report.