New Delhi, Dec 14 (Inditop.com) Home Minister P. Chidambaram Monday lamented that Delhi Police officers who looked the other way during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots had not been prosecuted and said he was attempting to find ways to correct this lacuna.
“Obviously, the situation is most unsatisfactory… I’m not satisfied, I am still trying to find a way of punishing those guilty of dereliction of duty. We have to find a way,” Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha while replying to a five-hour discussion on a calling attention motion on the riots moved by independent MP Tarlochan Singh. “Whatever we do, we have to do according to the law,” the minister said.
Not satisfied with the reply, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs walked out of the Rajya Sabha.
“The reply is not satisfactory,” BJP member S.S. Ahluwalia said as he led the MPs out.
“In the last 25 years, if one category got away with virtually no action it was the police. Departmental action was taken against seven officers but three got relief. In the case of prosecution, the record is even worse. Except for one case that is pending, there has been no prosecution.
“The largest killings were in Kalyanpuri and Srinivaspuri. No action was taken against the SHOs (station house officers),” Chidambaram said. “I’m not satisfied. I am still trying to find a way of punishing those guilty of dereliction of duty. I have to find a way.”
The minister said Delhi’s lieutenant governor has been asked to expedite the permission the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought to arrest four political leaders of the city for their alleged role in the riots that were sparked by then prime minister Indira Gandhi’s killing by her two Sikh bodyguards.
Recalling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement in parliament Aug 11, 2005 in which he apologised to the Sikh community and the nation over the riots, Chidambaram said: “I have nothing more to add to it. I hope such black days never be repeated.”
The Sikh community suffered, he said. “We all grieve for the Sikh community. We must equally grieve when another minority suffers. If any minority community suffers, a part of India’s civilisational values get eroded.”
Earlier, the anti-Sikh riots — that led to thousands of deaths — stirred passions in the Rajya Sabha, with speaker after speaker condemning what Tarlochan Singh termed as “genocide”.
“It was a genocide akin to the holocaust Hitler unleashed against the Jews (during World War II),” an impassioned Tarlochan Singh said, calling for a separate Supreme Court committee on the riots.
“We want justice. How long do you want us to wait for justice?” he asked in response to Chidambaram’s statement on his calling attention motion on the riots.
Tarlochan Singh, a former member of the National Minorities Commission, lamented that police officers who looked the other way and failed to check the riots “have been given gallantry awards and promotions”.
Member after member spoke with equal passion as they condemned the lack of action against the perpetrators of the carnage that claimed the lives of over 3,000 Sikhs, among them women and children, across the country.
Among them were BJP’s Arun Jaitley and S.S. Ahluwalia, Brinda Karat of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, D. Raja (Communist Party of India), Naresh Gujral (Akali Dal) and Avtar Singh Karimpuri (Bahujan Samaj Party).
The issue dominated the day’s proceedings, beginning around 12.15 p.m. and stretching well into the evening.
Chidambaram, in his statement, said 41 people had been sentenced to life terms, some for 10 years, 114 to three to five years imprisonment, and 115 to jail terms below three years for their role in the riots.
“The government is taking all possible steps within the ambit of the law in consultation with the ministry of law to bring the guilty to book, wherever (the) Nanavati Commission has named any specific individual(s) as requiring further examination or specific cases requiring reopening and re-examination,” he said.
