Sikhs hail govt decision on SIT probe into 1984 Kanpur riots
LUCKNOW/KANPUR: Members of the Sikh community have welcomed the UP government’s decision to constitute a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Kanpur.
At least 127 people were killed in Kanpur during the riots that sparked off following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
President of Lucknow Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee Rajendra Singh Bagga on Wednesday convened a special meeting of the representatives from all the gurudwaras of the city to discuss the issue.
“For the last 34 years, justice was being denied to the Sikh community which had lost everything in the riots. Sikh leaders in Kanpur Mokam Singh and Harvinder Singh Lord will represent the community before the SIT. A team of Sikhs will also keep a watch on the SIT probe,” Bagga said.
“We don’t want the probe to remain confined to papers only. We want action against criminals who killed hundreds of Sikhs in
› For the last 34 years, justice was being denied to the Sikh community which had lost everything in the riots. Sikh leaders in Kanpur Mokam Singh and Harvinder Singh Lord will represent the community before the SIT. A team of Sikhs will also keep a watch on SIT probe RAJENDRA SINGH BAGGA , President of Lucknow Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee
Kanpur. Cases were registered but nothing was done against the culprits. They are still roaming freely,” he added.
Working president of Alambagh Gurudwara Nirmal Singh said the state government should investigate the cases under Section 173(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) which called for completing probe within six months. “The Rangnath Mishra Committee had put the figure of casualties at 127. We believe more than 300 Sikhs were killed. All the cases should be investigated,” he added. Justice Mishra had recorded 127 deaths during riots in addition to some casualties in trains. However, as people killed in trains did not fall within the jurisdiction of Kanpur City, these casualties were not recorded in the report.
Kanpur was the worst hit and witnessed maximum deaths after Delhi. In all the cases, the police filed closure reports for want of evidence.
In Kanpur, chairman of the Guru Singh Sabha and former Congress MLC Sardar Kuldeep Singh had taken up the issue of identifying the exact number of the people killed and ensuring compensation to their families.
“Even the government did not stick to its own assessment of casualties. On September 5, 2017, the UP government gave the figure of 251 but submitted a revised list of 204 victims on September 13, 2017,” he said.
“Similarly, the government initially said 253 people were injured in riots but when it came to giving compensation, it stated only seven people received injuries which caused permanent disability. Only these people were given compensation,” Singh added. He claimed that about 4,000 FIRs were lodged but government records showed only 34 reports.
He alleged that about 9,424 cases of property destruction were accepted by the government but in every case low compensation was given.
Mohakam Singh, vice-chairman of Gurudwara Banoo Sahib, said two years ago he had filed an RTI query at the office of the senior superintendent of police (SSP) to know the exact number of casualties in the riot and what action, and against how many, was taken. “I got the reply that there was no complete information about the queries that I had raised,” he said. Head of Guru Singh Sabha Latouche Road said, “Had the status report demanded by the Supreme Court been submitted two years ago, Sikhs might have got justice by now. The SIT investigations will now help in getting justice.”