THE police looked the other way as politicians led marauding mobs into the city. You could be talking of Delhi of 1984 Anti sikh roits or Ahmedabad of 2002.
For its very long history, India has an extremely short memory. Uncomfortable events from the past are tucked away into obscure corners. Especially those that involve violent bursts of passions stoked by religion, caste, politics or plain hatred.
May be it is the greed to move forward to the future that prevents backward looks. But the forward march is more often than not interrupted by another round of bloody sacrifice of innocence. And yet again the nation fails to offer succor to its victims, deliver justice, and punish the guilty.
Assurance of immunity to the criminal is almost ingrained in the society. Witnesses to bloody pogroms in India grow up without any guilt. Each mob violence is forgotten in the next one.
In just three days, over 4,000 Sikhs were killed in the wake of the assassination of Indira Gandhi, India's most controversial, powerful and longest-serving prime minister. The poorest neighborhoods in Delhi saw the worst riots.
The 1984 Anti-Sikh riots, also referred to as the 1984 Anti-Sikh Pogroms or Massacres,were four days of violence in northern India, particularly Delhi, during which armed mobs belonging to Indian National Congress, killed unarmed Sikh men, women, and children, looted and set fire to Sikh homes, businesses and schools, and attacked Gurdwaras.
First day (31 October)
- 9:20 AM: Indira Gandhi is shot by two of her Sikh security guards at her residence, No. 1 Safdarjung Road, and rushed (AIIMS).
- 10:50 AM: Indira Gandhi dies.
- 11:00 AM Public learn that the two security guards who shot Indira Gandhi were Sikhs.
- 4:00 PM Rajiv Gandhi returns from West Bengal and reaches AIIMS. Stray incidents of attacks in and around that area.
- 5:30 PM: The Cars of President Giani Zail singh who is returning from a foreign visit, is stoned as it approaches AIIMS.
Evening and night
- Mobs fan out in different directions from AIIMS.
- The violence, including violence towards Sikhs and destruction of Sikh properties, spreads.
- Rajiv Gandhi is sworn in as the Prime Minister.
- Senior advocate and opposition leader meets Home Minister P.V Narsimha Rao and urges him to take immediate steps to protect Sikhs from further attacks.
- Delhi's Lt. Governer and Police Commissioner, S. Tandon visits some of the affected areas.
Second day (1 November)
- The first killing of a Sikh occurs in east Delhi.
- 9:00 AM: Armed mobs take over the streets of Delhi and launch a massacre.
Among the first targets are Gurudwaras, the holy temples of Sikhs, possibly to prevent Sikhs from collecting there and putting up a combined defense.
The worst affected areas are low income colonies like Trilokpuri, Mongolpuri, Sultanpuri and Palam Colony. The few areas where the local police stations take prompt measures against mobs see hardly any killings or major violence. Farsh Bazar and Karol Bagh are two such examples.
Third day (2 November)
Curfew is announced throughout Delhi, but is not enforced. The Army deployed throughout Delhi too but ineffective because the police did not co-operate with soldiers (who are not allowed to open fire without the consent of senior police officers and executive magistrates).
Mobs continue to rampage.
Fourth day (3 November)
Violence continues. By late evening, the national Army and local police units work together to subdue the violence. After law enforcement intervention, violence is comparatively mild and sporadic.
It was an organized massacre of the minority community by politicians and their supporters. Rioters had a free run as the Delhi Police looked away. They ruled the streets as an overwhelmed civil society figured ways out.
Within days of the riots, the usual Indian response was triggered: Commissions and committees, assurances and some stupid political statements, charges and counter charges, and denials by the very leaders who incited the mob to violence.
Hundreds of FIRs were registered by the police. Hundreds more were refused, because the victims wanted to name Congress leaders like Sajjan Kumar, HKL Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler.
Investigations into hundreds of murders were closed by police, they didn't even make it to courts. Hundreds of murders are yet to be even registered by police.
In 20 years, nine commissions and committees have inquired into the riots. The first one headed by Justice Ranganath Mishra, who went on to become India's chief justice and later the National Human Rights Commission chief. But the commission was a sham. Statements submitted by widows and victims were made available to the accused like Sajjan Kumar, whose supporters were allowed to file their responses months after the deadline. Years later, the CBI found these statements in Sajjan Kumar's house.
The latest commission, one led by Justice GT Nanavati, is still to complete its inquiry. The government last week gave yet another extension to him.
By 1990, six years after riots, just one killer had been convicted. Three special courts set up in 1990 were almost shams. One court acquitted over 100 accused within weeks. The exception was the court chaired by judges like SN Dhingra.
Widows and survivors walked the Kafkaesque corridors of Delhi courts for years in search of justice. They were threatened, some gave in. A handful of the Sikh leaders were accused of taking money from the accused.
Through the travails of these victims, Delhi progressed. Apartment complexes, BPO boom and malls - it has been an unprecedented two decades for Delhi as right wing ideology burst into the scene. Hopes of the BJP-led government delivering justice were misplaced.
The past two decades has been an unending trauma for the riot victims eeking out a living in the shanties and crumbling colonies, earmarked for them. For the orphans of 1984, the lost childhood has been replaced by a miserable youth.
In a city that is a comfortable home to political refugees from over 40 countries, the victims of 1984 are forgotten and hidden - like sins.