…and the fears stay on

Sonal Matharu
Karthik Ram

On 31st October 1984, six-year old Amrinder Singh became aware of the large scale violence that had been unleashed against his community. Residing in a Sikh majority population area, Vashisht Nagar near Janakpuri, in Delhi, his family were not the target yet. Not taking any chances, they nevertheless shifted their womenfolk to a relative’s house in a posh South Delhi locality.
Their fears came to life the very next day. At around 11 A.M a huge mob, shouting anti-Sikh and pro-Indira Gandhi slogans, fully armed with lathis and axes, suddenly engulfed their area. As if it was a well planned strategy, only the houses belonging to the Sikhs were targeted.
Amarjeet Singh, Amrinder’s father, recalls the fateful day, “They systematically went straight to all the Sikh houses in the locality as if they knew where all the Sikhs stayed.”
Amrinder’s grandfather, a retired army officer, then in his early 70s prepared himself to confront the mob with his Kirpan, but was prevented by Amarjeet. He was forcibly whisked away through the back door to a Muslim family’s house two doors away.
“My father grieved Indira Gandhi’s death as much as the whole nation did. All his life he served the country and this is how he was being rewarded. He could not control his anger,” says Amarjeet.
Amarjeet himself was dragged out by the mob and beaten by lathis. His Muslim neighbours rushed to his help. They managed to drag Amrinder and his bleeding father away from the crowd, bundled them into a car and drove them to a Muslim dominated area, where they stayed for the next four days.
Amrinder, now 30, says, “I still remember how the mob beat up my father. His turban had come off and he was bleeding. I was too young to help him and was terribly scared.”
Amarjeet returned to his house after things settled down in the city and was informed by his neighbours that the mob had first thoroughly removed useful things like the TV, telephone and other electrical appliances and loaded them onto the trucks. The cupboards were then broken open and whatever cash and jewellery they could lay their hands on, were pocketed. They smashed the rest of the furniture with their axes, and then they set the house afire.
“We lost everything in the riots and had nowhere to go. The place that was most safe for us, our home, was gone,” recalls Amarjeet.
Prepared to handle the worst, his family went to the local police station the next day and lodged a First Information Report (FIR). The police visited their burnt-down house and noted all the visible details. “We were a bit surprised as we did not have any problem lodging the FIR. We had lost all our faith in the system,” says Amarjeet.
But that was all the police did. Amrinder’s family had not expected much. They had seen the policemen standing across the road as mere spectators on the day of the attack. They had also noticed a senior police officer talking to some men sitting in white ambassador cars (allegedly used by the mob to commute) a few meters down the road.
Till date they have not heard of any progress on their FIR from the police. They did not get any summons from any court of law. Some journalists visited them and took down all the details of their ordeal, which appeared in some magazines and newspaper columns as a collective problem of their entire locality. Some NGOs came forward and assured them that cases would be filed on behalf of each family. They were assured that the culprits would be brought to book and adequate compensation given to them soon.
Three months after the attack, they received a letter from the Delhi Government, offering them a paltry compensation, which they refused.
25 years down the line, they are both frustrated and disillusioned with the system. They are now well aware that the riots and the police and court actions were all planned, executed and sanctioned by the Congress led government then.
“My heart burns every time I am reminded of that day. I grew up with this grief. I know what it means to be a minority in this country,” Amrinder says.
Amarjeet, now residing with his family in another colony in the same area, does not blame any particular community for the riots. According to him, it was a lesson for the minority community. It taught them that they could not take on the might of the government.
They appreciate the help extended by people of other communities—Hindus and Muslims—who came forward to help them.