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Operation Blue Star took birth after the rise of Khalistan movement in India. The Khalistan movement was
a political Sikh nationalist movement which aimed at creating an independent state for Sikhs inside the
current North-Western Republic of India.
Even though the Khalistan movement started in the early 1940s and 1950s, it gained popularity between
1970s and 1980s.
JARNAIL SINGH BHINDRANWALE
Bhindranwale was the leader of Damdami Taksal and was one of the main reasons behind Operation Blue
Star. As a leader, Bhindranwale had an influence on Sikh youth. He persuaded many people to follow Sikh
rules and tenets.
During Operation Blue Star, Bhindranwale and Khalistan supporters took over the Akal Takht complex in
Amritsar's Golden Temple.
Bhindranwale was seen as a supporter of the creation of Khalistan. Operation Blue Star specifically was
aimed to eliminate Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple complex and regain the control
over Harmandir Sahib.
Official reports put the number of deaths among the Indian army at 83 and the number of civilian deaths at
492, though independent estimates ran much higher.

Thirty-four years ago, a huge tree fell in Delhi the heart and capital of India. The ground
for Sikhs seeking justice has been shaky ever since.
However, the recent verdict by Delhi Patiala House Court has come as a ray of hope.
Yashpal Singh, one of the convicts has been given the death sentence. The other convict,
Naresh Sherawat has been given life imprisonment. It has taken thirty-four years but Sikh
families still continue to go to the court for each hearing and they’re not stopping till they get
their justice.
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An incident that is still talked about in a hush-hush voice, the mere mention of year chauraasi
opens up wounds that are far from healing. The year might be more than three decades away
but Sikhs remain frozen in time. As a young Sikh girl born eleven years after the Sikh massacre,
I know that 1984 is not a year to be discussed casually at family gatherings. However, while
watching the news of the convictions, I saw a Sikh woman on the television screen crying and
asking, “Saadi ki galti si? Saade nirdosh logan nu kyon maareya?” There was hopelessness and
despair on her face with which she posed this question: Why did you do this to the innocent
people of my community?
-article in indiatimes by grace bains

PTI New Delhi | Updated on January 30, 2014 Published on January 30, 2014SHARE

1984 riots: PM says UPA has done quite a lot for Sikh victims

Several Sikh groups on Thursday staged a protest outside the Congress

headquarters at 24, Akbar Road and demanded that Congress Vice-President
Rahul Gandhi reveal the names of party members who were involved in the
1984 anti-Sikh riots.
In a recent interview to a TV news channel, Rahul had said “some Congress
men” were probably involved in the riots and “they have been punished for it”.
The protesters shouted anti-Congress slogans and held up black flags and
placards, one of which read: “CBI should question Rahul Gandhi for Congress
involvement in 1984 riots”.
“We want justice. We want to know who were the people involved in the riots,”
said one of the protesters.
Asked about the Delhi government’s decision to set up a Special Investigation
Team to probe the riots cases, he said: “We have been demanding an SIT for the
past 25 years. If Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is really with us, we welcome
him, but if he is doing politics, we would like to request him not to do so.”

India's top investigating agency has accused a senior Congress Party leader
of being involved in a conspiracy of "terrifying proportion" with the police
during anti-Sikh riots in 1984.
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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told a Delhi court that Sajjan Kumar incited
crowds to kill Sikhs.

More than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in 1984 after the assassination of Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi.

Mr Kumar and five others on trial with him have denied all the charges.
source for below : the caravan magazine
ON WEDNESDAY, 31 October 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was
assassinated by two of her guards, both Sikh. In the ensuing violence, which lasted
roughly three days, 2,733 Sikhs were killed in Delhi. Sikhs were also attacked in
several other Indian cities, including Kanpur, Bokaro, Jabalpur and Rourkela. It
remains one of the bloodiest and most brutal episodes of communal violence in
independent India.

Over the next two decades, nine commissions of inquiry were instituted. Seven of
these investigated specific aspects of the tragedy, such as the death count, which was
officially established by the Ahuja Committee in 1987. Two of the panels—the
Ranganath Misra Commission, constituted in 1985, and the Justice GT Nanavati
Commission, whose final report was published in 2005—were required to look at the
violence in its entirety.

The reports of those two commissions still make for startling reading. Each recorded
testimonies from numerous victims and witnesses, and took depositions from some
of those accused, including police officers who had been on duty in badly affected
areas. Yet there is not just a complete mismatch between the testimonies recorded
and the conclusions reached—the commissions’ own observations contradict their
findings.

source : indiatoday magazine

For them, time does not heal. The hurt, the anger and the sense of betrayal remain. What the
families of the 2,733 people killed in the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi demand is justice. They have
waited for 21 long years, but it has eluded them.
They have seen how the government set up commissions without much result. The Justice
Ranganath Mishra Commission, which first probed the riots' causes, ruled out the organised
participation of the Congress. But it indicted the Delhi Administration and the police.
Three committees were appointed later: one to look into the conduct of the police, the other
to examine riot cases and the third to determine the number of people killed. The committee
that examined the role of the police indicted 72 officers in 1990. Since then action has been
taken against only four-two were censured, one was warned and in the fourth case, pension
was reduced.

Another committee found the main flaw was that the FIRs were all clubbed together, so no
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individual probes were done and convictions were almost non-existent. Compensation has
been tardy and paltry, says H.S. Phoolka, a senior counsel for many of the families.
Last month, the Justice Nanavati Commission, while absolving top Congress leaders of guilt,
observed that the local ones like Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar "very probably" had a hand
in the riots.

Under pressure, the Congress-led UPA Government got Tytler and Kumar to resign from
their official posts. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologised to the Sikhs. But the
affected families are far from satisfied. As the first-person accounts of five of them in the
following pages reveal, many are losing faith in the country itself.
Vibha Sethii, 65:( surviverwho lost her husband)
What do these commissions do other than reopen old wounds? One or two resignations that is
all that the government does to atone for what happened. I didn't expectmuchfrom the
Nanavati Commission. There had been earlier ones-it is just like a routine exercise one after
the other. My first experience was with the Ranganath Mishra commission. I had filed an
affidavit and I wasn't called for a hearing. After that somehow I lost faith.

Then there were other committees like the Agarwal Jain Committee-I appeared for that and
also for the police probe. At the identification parade, the policemenwho were present that
day when my husband was killed were not called. There is a roster in every police station that
tells you whowere on duty at the time.Whydidn't they call those people for us to identify? I
am sure the police constable had no authority to do what he did that day. So whose order was
he following?
When I was summoned to court once, my statement had already been written by the
policemen. And they askedme to endorse it. It said that by the time the police had reached my
house everything was destroyed. I refused to sign the paper. After that I was never
summoned.

Another thing came up afterwards. I saw a picture of a person who looked very familiar to me
as the man who instigated the mob. That happened to be a local Congress leader-I mentioned
it in my affidavit. There was a police enquiry but nothing seemed to be coming out of it. I
was then living alone with my daughter and got some threatening calls. One of my colleagues
casually mentioned, "You have a daughter. So try and save her. Don't proceed with the case."
That scared me. That was when I told them to close the case.

I feel betrayed. I have lost faith in the country. Look at the way the system failed. Why was
the government not there to help us? Why was standing beside Indira Gandhi's body more
important for MPs than protecting those who had voted them to power? Manmohan Singh's
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apology that came after so many protests carries no weight. All that he has said was what he
should have said before signing that Action Taken Report. More than being angry I feel hurt
and ask: Why this discrimination? Why am I being treated like a foreigner in my country? I
have never felt different so why am I being treated differently?

At the moment I wish only for peace for everybody. I don't want my grand-children to grow
up with any animosity. Their laughter brings cheer. I never talk to them about these things. I
still instil in them love for the nation. My daughter's mobile set has Sare jahan se achcha
Hindustan hamara as its ring tone. Maybe bringing them up to be good citizens-that's the least
I can do.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Balbir Singh, 35
STILL FEARFUL

I don't have a proper job or money to send my three children to school. Our hearts are still
full of hurt and anger.
Balbir singh, son of a coir mat maker, was a resident of trilokpuri. His father was killed by a
mob. He escaped by wearing women's clothes. Even now balbir is afraid of revealing he is
sikh.

The police then took away all our small arms. They seemed to have facilitated the rioters.
For, we saw an even larger mob approach us with crowbars and cans of kerosene. They
started beating all the men and abused them.

Countless people have been butchered and no one has been convicted. The station inspector
was promoted as a deputy superintendent of police. The MP of the area became a minister.
The policy seemed to be "kill five persons and you will get a promotion. Kill 10 people and
you would get a double promotion". We want to see all of them punished. Those who killed
my father must be hanged. Otherwise all those who have suffered would take the law in their
own hands.

The Congress party, which I believe arranged to get the mob to attack us, is back in power.
Now even the prime minister has assured that justice would be done.
Congress government had given us wounds and it must now provide a balm.
It is not enough for the Government to be ashamed and say sorry. Our
children have become idle. We can't pay for their education and the standard
of teaching is not good. There is no employment for them and they start
smoking crack and become addicts.
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Our first need is employment. Then the prime minister can claim he has done something.
There is a saying that an elephant has two teeth-one to show and the other to chew. Our first
demand is that we be rehabilitated and the other is that the culprits who were responsible for
the massacre be given capital punishment. We pray to God that no other community is
subjected to what we have been through.

Surinder Kaur, 25
ORPHANED HOPES

Those who killed my parents roam free. This is a useless

country of uncaring people.
She was only four when her father, mother and brother were killed and their lathe factory was
destroyed. Now a graduate, she is looking for a job and lives in quiet despair.

I was the youngest of the children. Now I live with my eldest sister, who is 12 years older and
who brought me up. Even now she goes into deep depression whenever she talks about that
day. She says that my father and brother ran towards the police station to take shelter there.
But the mob went in and killed them while the police watched.

My mother, who tried to save them, was hit with bricks and she died too. All I remember is
that we were hiding when the crowd attacked our house and started beating my parents. My
father was just 35 then.
In school, I used to feel bad when anyone asked me about my parents. I could never enjoy
life. I didn't feel like playing. I never went out. We always lived in fear. We spent our day
trying to overcome a myriad of problems. But we also learnt to live through hell. I did my BA
from Laxmi Bai College. Now I am doing my MA through correspondence. I want to become
a teacher and I am searching for a job.

I still find it difficult to trust anyone. I do miss my parents. I pray daily at home and go to the
gurdwara on Sundays. I sometimes fight with God asking him why this should have
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happened to us. I think there should be only one religion. Then 1984 would never have
happened. People say that India is a wonderful country with loving people. I think it is a
useless country where people are uncaring. My sister went to court several times and did
point a finger at those people who killed our parents. But they were taken into custody and
freed soon. It is 21 years now and the guilty roam around with impunity.

What hope should I have in a nation like this? Only when the guilty are punished will my
faith return. The government should also compensate us. At least they should help us with a
job to earn and live well.

Harbans Kaur, 72
BETRAYAL OF FAITH

We have no hatred or ill-feelings towards Hindus. I know justice is now in God's hands.
Kaur didn't fall victim to depression even though her husband was killed by the mob and her
son seriously injured in the ghastly violence. She not only managed his factory for making
gauges successfully but also brought up her four daughters and two sons.

I live my life from prayer to prayer. Although my husband was killed brutally by a mob and
my son seriously injured we do not have a feeling of hatred or anger against the Hindus. The
Sikhs were originally Hindus. Our great Gurus were Hindus. Even today we live like a
big joint family so we have no ill-feelings towards our Hindu brethren.

Not knowing what had happened, I went to look for my husband and saw his half-burnt body
in a nallah. I started screaming that he was no more but I saw people walking around me
without sympathy. I called my brother who held a senior government position and he phoned
the then President Giani Zail Singh who hailed from our village. Zail Singh requested Madan
Lal Khurana, the BJP leader, to help. Khurana came and helped me take my husband's body
home. My son was admitted to a hospital and survived.

After my husband's cremation, I was in a very bad condition both emotionally and
financially. Our workers came to help me. I then started looking after the factory myself. The
boy who was among those who killed my husband is still living near our old house and doing
some business there. Now, justice is in God's hands.

The reports of those two commissions still make for startling reading.
Each recorded testimonies from numerous victims and witnesses, and
took depositions from some of those accused, including police officers
who had been on duty in badly affected areas. Yet there is not just a
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complete mismatch between the testimonies recorded and the

conclusions reached—the commissions’ own observations contradict
their findings.

source:indiatoday magazine:Rajiv's government set up one-member Justice Ranganath Misra Commission of Inquiry
On April 26, 1985, six months after the anti-Sikh massacre in Delhi, Rajiv's government set up
the one-member Justice Ranganath Misra Commission of Inquiry to probe the killings. Its report
was submitted in February 1987

source : wikipedia :commissions

Ten commissions or committees have been formed to investigate the riots. The most recent, headed by
Justice G. T. Nanavati, submitted its 185-page report to Home Minister Shivraj Patil on 9 February 2005;
the report was tabled in Parliament on 8 August of that year. The commissions below are listed in
chronological order. Many of the accused were acquitted or never formally charged.

Marwah Commission[edit]
The Marwah Commission was appointed in November 1984. Ved Marwah, Additional Commissioner of Police,
was tasked with enquiring into the role of the police during the riots. Many of the accused Delhi Police officers
were tried in the Delhi High Court. As Marwah was completing his inquiry in mid-1985, he was abruptly directed
by the Home Ministry not to proceed further.[79] The Marwah Commission records were appropriated by the
government, and most (except for Marwah's handwritten notes) were later given to the Misra Commission.

Misra Commission[edit]
The Misra Commission was appointed in May 1985; Justice Rangnath Misra was a judge on the Supreme Court
of India. Misra submitted his report in August 1986, and the report was made public in February 1987. In his
report, he said that it was not part of his terms of reference to identify any individual and recommended the
formation of three committees.
The commission and its report was criticised as biased by the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Human
Rights Watch. According to a Human Rights Watch report on the commission:
It recommended no criminal prosecution of any individual, and it cleared all high-level officials of directing the
pogroms. In its findings, the commission did acknowledge that many of the victims testifying before it had
received threats from local police. While the commission noted that there had been "widespread lapses" on the
part of the police, it concluded that "the allegations before the commission about the conduct of the police are
more of indifference and negligence during the riots than of any wrongful overt act." [69]

The People's Union for Civil Liberties criticised the Misra Commission for concealing information on the accused
while disclosing the names and addresses of victims.[80]

Kapur Mittal Committee[edit]

The Kapur Mittal Committee was appointed in February 1987 at the recommendation of the Misra Commission to
enquire into the role of the police; the Marwah Commission had almost completed a police inquiry in 1985 when
the government asked that committee not to continue. This committee consisted of Justice Dalip Kapur and
Kusum Mittal, retired Secretary of Uttar Pradesh. It submitted its report in 1990, and 72 police officers were cited
for conspiracy or gross negligence. Although the committee recommended the dismissal of 30 of the 72 officers,
none have been punished.

Jain Banerjee Committee[edit]

The Jain Banerjee Committee was recommended by the Misra Commission for the registration of cases. The
committee consisted of former Delhi High Court judge M. L. Jain and retired Inspector General of Police A. K.
Banerjee.
In its report, the Misra Commission stated that many cases (particularly those involving political leaders or police
officers) had not been registered. Although the Jain Banerjee Committee recommended the registration of cases
against Sajjan Kumar in August 1987, no case was registered.
In November 1987, press reports criticised the government for not registering cases despite the committee's
recommendation. The following month, Brahmanand Gupta (accused with Sajjan Kumar) filed a writ petition in
the Delhi High Court and obtained a stay of proceedings against the committee which was not opposed by the
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government. The Citizen's Justice Committee filed an application to vacate the stay. The writ petition was
decided in August 1989 and the high court abolished the committee. An appeal was filed by the Citizen's Justice
Committee in the Supreme Court of India.

Potti Rosha Committee[edit]

The Potti Rosha Committee was appointed in March 1990 by the V. P. Singh government as a successor to the
Jain Banerjee Committee. In August 1990, the committee issued recommendations for filing cases based on
affidavits submitted by victims of the violence; there was one against Sajjan Kumar. When a CBI team went to
Kumar's home to file the charges, his supporters held and threatened them if they persisted in pursuing Kumar.
When the committee's term expired in September 1990, Potti and Rosha decided to end their inquiry.

Jain Aggarwal Committee[edit]

The Jain Aggarwal Committee was appointed in December 1990 as a successor to the Potti Rosha Committee. It
consisted of Justice J. D. Jain and retired Uttar Pradesh director general of police D. K. Aggarwal. The committee
recommended the registration of cases against H. K. L. Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar, Dharamdas Shastri and Jagdish
Tytler.
It suggested establishing two or three special investigating teams in the Delhi Police under a deputy
commissioner of police, supervised by an additional commissioner of police answerable to the CID, and a review
of the work-load of the three special courts set up to deal with the riot cases. The appointment of special
prosecutors to deal the cases was also discussed. The committee was wound up in August 1993, but the cases it
recommended were not registered by the police.

Ahuja Committee[edit]
The Ahuja Committee was the third committee recommended by the Misra Commission to determine the total
number of deaths in Delhi. According to the committee, which submitted its report in August 1987, 2,733 Sikhs
were killed in the city.

Dhillon Committee[edit]
The Dhillon Committee, headed by Gurdial Singh Dhillon, was appointed in 1985 to recommend measures for the
rehabilitation of victims. The committee submitted its report by the end of the year. [vague] One major
recommendation was that businesses with insurance coverage whose claims were denied should receive
compensation as directed by the government. Although the committee recommended ordering the (nationalised)
insurance companies to pay the claims, the government did not accept its recommendation and the claims were
not paid.

Narula Committee[edit]
The Narula Committee was appointed in December 1993 by the Madan Lal Khurana-led BJP government
in Delhi. One recommendation of the committee was to convince the central government to impose sanctions.
Khurana took up the matter with the central government, which in the middle of 1994, the Central Government
decided that the matter did not fall within its purview and sent the case to the lieutenant governor of Delhi. It took
two years for the P. V. Narasimha Rao government to decide that it did not fall within its purview.
The Narasimha Rao Government further delayed the case. The committee submitted its report in January 1994,
recommending the registration of cases against H. K. L. Bhagat and Sajjan Kumar. Despite the central-
government delay, the CBI filed the charge sheet in December 1994.

The Nanavati Commission[edit]

The Nanavati Commission was established in 2000 after some dissatisfaction was expressed with previous
reports.[81] The Nanavati Commission was appointed by a unanimous resolution passed in the Rajya Sabha. This
commission was headed by Justice G.T. Nanavati, retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India. The commission
submitted its report in February 2004. The commission reported that recorded accounts from victims and
witnesses "indicate that local Congress leaders and workers had either incited or helped the mobs in attacking
the Sikhs".[81] Its report also found evidence against Jagdish Tytler "to the effect that very probably he had a hand
in organising attacks on Sikhs".[81] It also recommended that Sajjan Kumar's involvement in the rioting required a
closer look. The commission's report also cleared Rajiv Gandhi and other high ranking Congress (I) party
members of any involvement in organising riots against Sikhs. It did find, however, that the Delhi Police fired
about 392 rounds of bullets, arrested approximately 372 persons, and "remained passive and did not provide
protection to the people" throughout the rioting.[81][12]

Role of Jagdish Tytler[edit]

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Tytler in 2010

The Central Bureau of Investigation closed all cases against Jagdish Tytler in November 2007 for his alleged
criminal conspiracy to engineer riots against Sikhs in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination. The bureau
submitted a report to the Delhi court that no evidence or witness was found to corroborate allegations that Tytler
led murderous mobs during 1984.[82] It was alleged in court that Tytler – then an MP – complained to his
supporters about the relatively-"small" number of Sikhs killed in his constituency (Delhi Sadar), which he thought
had undermined his position in the Congress Party.[83]
In December 2007 a witness, Dushyant Singh (then living in California), appeared on several private television
news channels in India saying that he was never contacted by the CBI. The opposition Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) demanded an explanation in Parliament from Minister of State for Personnel Suresh Pachouri, who
was in charge of the CBI. Pachouri, who was present, refused to make a statement. [84] Additional Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate of the Delhi Court Sanjeev Jain, who had dismissed the case against Tytler after the CBI
submitted a misleading report, ordered the CBI to reopen cases against Tytler related to the riots on 18
December 2007.[85]
In December 2008 a two-member CBI team went to New York to record statements from Jasbir Singh and
Surinder Singh, two eyewitnesses. The witnesses said that they saw Tytler lead a mob during the riot, but did not
want to return to India because they feared for their safety. [86] They blamed the CBI for not conducting a fair trial,
accusing the bureau of protecting Tytler.
In March 2009, the CBI cleared Tytler amidst protests from Sikhs and the opposition parties. [87] On 7 April,
Sikh Dainik Jagran reporter Jarnail Singh threw his shoe at Home Minister P. Chidambaram to protest the
clearing of Tytler and Sajjan Kumar. Because of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Chidambaram did not press
charges.[88]
Two days later, over 500 protesters from Sikh organisations throughout India gathered outside the court which
was scheduled to hear the CBI's plea to close the case against Tytler. Later in the day, Tytler announced that he
was withdrawing from the Lok Sabha elections to avoid embarrassing his party. This forced the Congress Party
to cut the Tytler and Sajjan Kumar Lok Sabha tickets.[89]
On 10 April 2013, the Delhi court ordered the CBI to reopen the 1984 case against Tytler. The court ordered the
bureau to investigate the killing of three people in the riot case, of which Tytler had been cleared. [90]

New York civil case[edit]

Kamal Nath in 2008

Sikhs for Justice, a U.S.-based NGO, filed a civil suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District
of New York on 14 March 2011 accusing the Indian government of complicity in the riots. The court issued a
summons to the Congress Party and Kamal Nath, who was accused by the Nanavati commission of encouraging
rioters.[91][92][93] The complaint against Nath was dismissed in March 2012 by Judge Robert W. Sweet, who ruled
that the court lacked jurisdiction in the case.[94] The 22-page order granted Nath's motion to dismiss the claim,
with Sweet noting that Sikhs for Justice failed to "serve the summons and its complaints to Nath in an appropriate
and desired manner".[95] On 3 September 2013, a federal court in New York issued a summons to Sonia
Gandhi for her alleged role in protecting participants in the riots.[96] A U.S. court dismissed the lawsuit against
Gandhi on 11 July 2014.[97]

Cobrapost operation[edit]
According to an April 2014 Cobrapost sting operation, the government muzzled the Delhi Police during the riots.
Messages were broadcast directing the police not to act against rioters, and the fire brigade would not go to
areas where cases of arson were reported.[98]

Special Investigation Team (Supreme Court)[edit]

In January 2018, the Supreme Court of India decided to form a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT)
of its own to probe 186 cases related to 1984 anti-Sikh riots that were not further investigated by Union
Government formed SIT. This SIT would consists of a former High court judge, a former IPS officer whose rank is
not less than or equivalent to Inspector General and a serving IPS Officer.[99]

Impact and legacy[edit]

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On 12 August 2005, Manmohan Singh apologised in the Lok Sabha for the riots.[100][101] The riots are cited as a
reason to support the creation of a Sikh homeland in India, often called Khalistan.[102][103][104]
Many Indians of different religions made significant efforts to hide and help Sikh families during the rioting. [105] The
Sikh Jathedar of Akal Takht declared the events following the death of Indira Gandhi a Sikh "genocide", replacing
"anti-Sikh riots" widely used by the Indian government, the media and writers, on 15 July 2010.[106] The decision
came soon after a similar motion was raised in the Canadian Parliament by a Sikh MP. [citation needed] Although several
political parties and governments have promised compensation for the families of riot victims, compensation has
not yet been paid.[107]
On 16 April 2015, Assembly Concurrent Resolution 34 (ACR 34) was passed by the California State Assembly.
Co-authored by Sacramento-area assembly members Jim Cooper, Kevin McCarty, Jim Gallagher and Ken
Cooley, the resolution criticized the Government of participating in and failure to prevent the killings. The
assembly called the killings a "genocide", as it "resulted in the intentional destruction of many Sikh families,
communities, homes and businesses."[108][109] In April 2017, the Ontario Legislature passed a motion condemning
the anti-Sikh riots as "genocide".[110] The Indian government lobbied against the motion and condemned it upon its
adoption.[111] In February 2018, American state of Connecticut, passed a bill stating, 30 November of each year to
be "Sikh Genocide" Remembrance Day to remember the lives lost on 30 November 1984, during the Sikh
Genocide.[112]

Aftermath[edit]
The Delhi High Court, delivering its verdict on a riot-related case in 2009, said:[64]
Though we boast of being the world's largest democracy and the Delhi being its national capital, the sheer
mention of the incidents of 1984 anti-Sikh riots in general and the role played by Delhi Police and state machinery
in particular makes our heads hang in shame in the eyes of the world polity.
The government allegedly destroyed evidence and shielded the guilty. Asian Age, an Indian daily newspaper, ran
a front-page story calling the government actions "the mother of all cover-ups".[65][66]
From 31 October 1984 to 10 November 1984 the People's Union for Democratic Rights and the People's Union
for Civil Liberties conducted an inquiry into the riots, interviewing victims, police officers, neighbours of the
victims, army personnel and political leaders. In their joint report, "Who Are The Guilty", the groups concluded:
The attacks on members of the Sikh Community in Delhi and its suburbs during the period, far from being a
spontaneous expression of "madness" and of popular "grief and anger" at Mrs. Gandhi's assassination as made
out to be by the authorities, were the outcome of a well organised plan marked by acts of both deliberate
commissions and omissions by important politicians of the Congress (I) at the top and by authorities in the
administration.[22]
According to eyewitness accounts obtained by Time magazine, Delhi police looked on as "rioters murdered and
raped, having gotten access to voter records that allowed them to mark Sikh homes with large Xs, and large
mobs being bused in to large Sikh settlements".[67] Time reported that the riots led to only minor arrests, with no
major politicians or police officers convicted. The magazine quoted Ensaaf,[68] an Indian human-rights
organisation, as saying that the government attempted to destroy evidence of its involvement by refusing to
record First Information Reports.[67]
A 1991 Human Rights Watch report on violence between Sikh separatists and the Government of India traced
part of the problem to government response to the violence:
Despite numerous credible eye-witness accounts that identified many of those involved in the violence, including
police and politicians, in the months following the killings, the government sought no prosecutions or indictments
of any persons, including officials, accused in any case of murder, rape or arson. [69]
The violence was allegedly led (and often perpetrated) by Indian National Congress activists and sympathizers.
The Congress-led government was widely criticised for doing little at the time and possibly conspiring in the riots,
since voter lists were used to identify Sikh families.[24]
A few days after the massacre, many surviving Sikh youths in Delhi had joined or created Sikh militant groups.
This led to more violence in the Punjab, including the assassination of several senior Congress Party members.
The Khalistan Commando Force and Khalistan Liberation Force claimed responsibility for the retaliation, and an
underground network was established.
On 31 July 1985, Harjinder Singh Jinda, Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Ranjit Singh Gill of the Khalistan Commando
Force assassinated Congress Party leader and MP Lalit Maken in retaliation for the riots. The 31-page report,
"Who Are The Guilty?", listed 227 people who led the mobs; Maken was third on the list. [70]
Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha assassinated Congress Party leader Arjan Dass because of his
involvement in the riots. Dass' name appeared in affidavits submitted by Sikh victims to the Nanavati
Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court of India judge G. T. Nanavati.[71]
research mun hcc

Convictions[edit]
In Delhi, 442 rioters were convicted. Forty-nine were sentenced to the life imprisonment, and another three to
more than 10 years' imprisonment. Six Delhi police officers were sanctioned for negligence during the riots. [72] In
April 2013, the Supreme Court of India dismissed the appeal of three people who had challenged their life
sentences.[73] That month, the Karkardooma district court in Delhi convicted five people – Balwan Khokkar (former
councillor), Mahender Yadav (former MLA), Kishan Khokkar, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal – for inciting a
mob against Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment. The court acquitted Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, which led to
protests.[74]
In the first ever case of capital punishment in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case death sentence was awarded to
Yashpal Singh convicted for murdering two persons, 24-year old Hardev Singh and 26-year old Avtar Singh, in
Mahipal Pur area of Delhi on 1 November 1984. Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Pandey pronounced the
Judgement on 20, 34 November years after the crime was committed. The second convict in the case, Naresh
Sehrawat was awarded life imprisonment. The Court considered the failing health of 68-year old Sehrawat while
giving him a lighter sentence. The conviction followed a complaint by the deceased Hardev Singh's elder brother
Santokh Singh. Though an FIR was filed on the same day of the crime nothing came of the case as a Congress
leader, JP Singh, who led the mob was acquitted in the case. A fresh FIR was filed on 29 April 1993, following
recommendations of the Ranganath Commission of inquiry. The police closed the matter as untraced despite
witness testimonies of the deceased's four brothers who were witness to the crime. The case was reopened by
the Special Investigation Team constituted by the BJP-led NDA government on 12 February 2015. The SIT
completed the investigation in record time.[75][76] The first conviction resulting from the formation of the SIT came
on 15 November 2018, by the conviction of Naresh Sehrawat and Yashpal Singh. . [77] Subsequently, one of the
first high-profile conviction of Sajjan Kumar by Delhi High Court who was earlier acquitted by the lower court on
17 December 2018 [78]
sourceTOI :The failure of the Congress government and the newly sworn-in prime minister Rajiv
Gandhi to quell the bloodthirsty Hindu mob out to revenge for the dastardly assassination of Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 remains a blot in India’s polity especially when very few have been held
guilty of butchering innocent people—stunned men, hapless women and children belonging to the
assassins’ religion. It is another part that the Congress as a party made amends with the past and the
Sikh community by elevating a scholar-politician from the community as prime minister for 10 years.
This should not be ignored when the BJP’s project of a ‘minority-mukt’ Bharat remains a work in
progress.

Indira got justice, her murderers were hanged. Sikhs didn’t get justice.