Fresh Light
On 1984 Riots
By Kuldip Nayar
20 February 2005
The Dawn
Riots
were "organized", some Congressmen instigating the anti-social
elements to "target the Sikh community" without any "meaningful
intervention" by the police. This is the import of the report by
former Supreme Court judge G.T. Nanavati on the 1984 riots.Understandably,
he is reluctant to reveal the contents of the report because the home
ministry, to which he has submitted it, is yet to place it before parliament.
But he makes no secret of his unhappiness over the nexus that he has
found between some Congressmen and the police. He describes one as exploitative
and the other in-disciplined.
Nanavati's observations
more or less confirm what some NGOs had said in the pamphlet, 'Who are
the guilty?', published soon after the killings in Delhi. The pamphlet
said that "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 (Indira) Gandhi's
assassination as made out to be by the authorities, were the outcome
of a well-organized plan marked by acts of both deliberate commissions
and omissions by important politicians of the Congress (I) at the top
and by the authorities in the administration."Nanavati believes
what happened in Delhi can happen anywhere in India and at any time
because the police knows no limits and politicians no norms of behaviour.
"I have seen the same pattern in Gujarat" where he is currently
investigating into the rioting which had made Muslims as the target.
He sees many similarities between the happenings in Delhi and Gujarat
and he has no good word either for the politicians or the authorities.
"The army was
late to arrive," says Nanavati. It was not familiar with Delhi
and hence took some time to get acquainted with the different localities.
To begin with, according to Nanavati, the army wanted to go only into
the two areas that were adjacent to the Cantonment.However, he does
not comment on the allegation that the government had purposely delayed
the induction of the army. He is particularly harsh on the prosecuting
agency. "There should be something like the National Prosecuting
Agency
for the country" so that prosecution is independent, without any
outside pressure.Nanavati has no hesitation in saying that the authorities
were not obeying instructions from above. "I have seen the orders
issued by the top but there was no implementation."This is, indeed,
a serious charge which suggests that the authorities, particularly the
police, had become itself a mob, without any check or control. Connivance
is bad enough but the participation is something horrendous to contemplate
in a democratic society.
When it comes to
action against the guilty, Nanavati expresses helplessness. After 20
years, he says, there was no concrete evidence to pursue, nothing to
bring the killers to book.Still he has named four, five Congressmen,
including a member of parliament. Nanavati opened five or six cases
from the many the police had closed but gave up because he found it
to be a wild goose chase. Two or three cases were going on in the court
against some police officials, he says. Apparently, he had not gone
beyond. Nanavati's report says that the first incident took place around
2.30 pm on October 31, 1984, in the neighbourhood of All India Institute
of Medical Sciences when some Sikhs were dragged out
from their vehicles.
The then president,
Zail Singh's motorcade was stoned around 5 p.m. Hell broke loose the
following day, according to Nanavati. He is of the view that the fury
lasted for one day, although some stray incidents took place subsequently.
This is contrary to the general belief that the rioting continued for
three days.Nanavati admits that he is conscious of "limitations"
in the report. To pick up the thread two decades later was not easy.
Many people had died in the meantime and the court had given its verdict
on several cases. Still he had done his best."I have not tried
to whitewash anything. The report has to be read in its entirety to
know where the blame lay," says Nanavati. "Some in the media
were unfair to me because what was used as a leak was partly concocted
and partly torn out of context."
He takes the credit
for suggesting two steps for the rehabilitation of victims and their
families. One recommendation is to pay the same compensation in other
parts of India as has been done in Delhi - Rs 3.5 lakh for every person
killed. The second is to ask the government to provide job to the son
or any other person of the family which lost its breadwinner.
I wish the Nanavati
Commission had gone beyond the rioting. I had something else in mind
when I raised the demand in the Rajya Sabha for another commission.
I wanted something on the lines of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
appointed by South Africa to go over the period of apartheid.
The whites were
asked to confess what they did and were promised that no action would
be taken against them. Many came forward and told the truth. For example,
one said that he tried to kill Nelson Mandela.
Had New Delhi gone
about the same way, some from among the politicians and authorities
might have come forward to tell the truth. We would not have been clueless
as we are today even after several inquiry reports.
Probably, our laws
do not permit this. Even then, the commission's terms of reference should
have been different. None expected any new evidence or something clinching
to get at the guilty.Nanavati was also for a similar commission. He
says that he tried to pursue the same path but did not succeed in his
efforts. "I asked many witnesses and others who appeared before
me to rise above politics. But it looks as if I did not succeed."
(The Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee was keen on finding the culprits
and hanging them. It was not willing to condone their guilt even if
they were to come out with the truth.)Still we have the right to know
why those who indulged in the rioting did so and how "the organized"
killing came to be planned and executed. The pattern in Delhi and elsewhere
was the same: looting and burning the property and then setting it on
fire and even killing or burning the owners and occupants along.
The report, I am
afraid, may not satisfy the Sikh community that has been wronged. But
then even the most critical report cannot heal the wounds. Yet the government
owes an explanation to the Sikhs or, more so, to the country.Let the
Prime Minister say in parliament at the next session that however limited
the Nanavati report, the government seeks forgiveness from the nation
and the victimized community. This will be statesmanship even though
it may not serve the calls of politics.
The writer is a
leading columnist based in New Delhi.