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Rotten Politics
of Farm Fresh Chargesheets
Sach Kanwal
Singh
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Justice Nanawati had recommended three cases against Sajjan
Kumar. The CBI has filed fresh chargesheets in two of them. Do
you know what happened in the third case? Well, that’s what
holds the key to understand the notions of politics that drive
India’s brahamanical forces’ agenda against the Sikhs. |
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 One
moment of lethargic intellectualism and somewhere in the world a
Sikh may actually believe for a fleeting second that the Indian
nation state finally seems to be ready to give justice to the Sikhs
as far as the pogroms of 1984 were concerned.
An apology by
the Prime Minister, some infrequent expressions of regret by some
leading politicians, appointment of a couple of turbaned Sikhs at
key posts at the national level, a few statements by Home Minister
that justice seems not to have been done, a re-opening of the cases
by the CBI, and the facade of new chargesheets: Isn't New Delhi
trying to give justice to the Sikhs?
Last Wednesday,
following up on Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram's statements that
Delhi's Lt Governor was to give nod to filing of fresh chargesheets,
and then the news that the much awaited nod has indeed come, the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) finally filed two chargesheets
against former Member of Parliament Sajjan Kumar and several others
in three cases registered after the anti-Sikhs pogroms in 1984. The
cases were registered at Sultanpuri and Delhi Cantonment police
stations.
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But make no mistake. In a modern society with pretentions of a
democratic nation state, the idea of suppressing a community is
not as crude as setting up concentration camps. One needs far
more subtle methods of finishing off a community, breaking its
will, dissipating its energies and taking away the uniqueness of
its people. So, New Delhi is moving extremely shrewdly in that
direction. |
Kumar, along
with the others, has been chargesheeted under various Sections,
including murder (302), destruction of evidence (201), spreading
enmity between two communities (153-A) and others.
But make no
mistake. In a modern society with pretentions of a democratic nation
state, the idea of suppressing a community is not as crude as
setting up concentration camps. One needs far more subtle methods of
finishing off a community, breaking its will, dissipating its
energies and taking away the uniqueness of its people. So,
New Delhi is
moving extremely shrewdly in that direction.
Do nothing for a
quarter of a century about day-light murder and burnings of some
4,000 people on the roads of Delhi, then say sorry, give
Parliamentary election tickets to known killers of Sikhs, withdraw
the tickets when the pressure becomes too much but reward the
killers in other clearly visible ways, make the brother of one such
killed an MP and reward the other killer by giving him a huge party
responsibility, do not even consider taking any action at the party
level against those who are widely believed to be the killers of
Sikhs. Congress of 1984 was in many respects very different from the
Congress of today, but then, in many respects, the Congress of today
is not very different from the Congress of 1984.
 If
you have any doubt, here is a little gem. While you may have read
newspaper/media reports about the CBI filing fresh chargesheets in
the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Kaveri Baweja last
Wednesday, a little piece of another news also happened the same
afternoon that many would have missed in the fine print of the
story. The same evening, the CBI actually filed a closure report in
a case lodged in Mongolpuri, where one Iqbal Singh Chaddha had died.
The CBI cited lack of evidence in the case and closed the file. The
CBI said that the complainant in the case “could not give any
information as to where and who killed her husband and burnt his
body”. It also said that the witnesses in the case had died or were
“untraceable” leading to lack of evidence.
No one had the
time to suggest that the entire thing seemed custom designed for all
evidence to vanish. Do nothing for 25 years, then claim there's
hardly any evidence left.
And in cases
where evidence indeed is there, wait so much that the poor fellows
asking for justice eventually die. Surinder Singh, a key witness in
cases against known killers of Sikhs, finally died last year, just
as Gurcharan Singh did after waiting for 25 years but remaining
unable to even record his testimony, thanks to the way New Delhi has
remained apathetic to the Sikh community.
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The same afternoon when the CBI filed so-called fresh
chargesheets against sajjan Kumar, it also asked the court to
close the third case against the Congress leader in which
Mongolpuri-resident Iqbal Singh Chaddha was killed by a mob. The
CBI cited lack of evidence as reason. No one suggested that the
entire thing was custom designed for all evidence to vanish. Do
nothing for 25 years, then claim there's hardly any evidence
left. |
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The latest two
chargesheets were filed in two cases of Sultanpuri (FIR numbers
250/84 and 252/84), where CBI has charged Sajjan Kumar, Ved Prakash
Pal, Priya Sansi, Khushal Singh and Brahmanand Gupta under various
Sections.
In the killings
of Sikhs at Sultanpuri after the assassination of Indira Gandhi on
October
31, 1984, the chargesheet claimed, Sajjan Kumar led a mob of 300 to
400 to a park in B-2 block on the morning of November 1.
“Investigations revealed Sajjan Kumar gave provocative speeches...
promoted instant and violent enmity against Sikhs and disturbed
harmony,” it says.
The chargesheet
says the armed mob led by the Congress leader damaged the C-block
gurudwara and other blocks of Sultanpuri, ransacked and set
properties on fire. The violence led to the death of Hoshiar Singh,
Mohan Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Basant Singh and his sons Balbir and
Balihar.
Sajjan Kumar,
claims the CBI chargesheet, also led the mob to B-2 block the same
day, which led to the death of one Surjeet Singh.
 In
the chargesheet filed in the
Delhi cantonment
case (FIR number 416/84), the agency says the mob led by Sajjan
Kumar set fire to Raj Nagar gurudwara, and burnt vehicles and
houses. They also burnt one Nirmal Singh alive. The chargesheet says
Sajjan Kumar instigated the mob to loot the house of Jagsher Singh
and set it on fire. On the intervening night of November 2,
Raghuvinder Singh, Narender Pal Singh and Kuldeep Singh were burnt
alive in Raj Nagar, it says.
Seven others
have been chargesheeted in the Delhi Cantt case: Balwan Khokkar,
Mahendra Yadav, Maha Singh, Bhagmal, Santosh Rani (alias Janta
Hawaldarni), Girdhari Lal, and N Krishna Khokkar.
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After Jarnail Singh threw a shoe across Home Minister
Chidambaram’s face, and thereby also the face of the Indian
nation state, we must remember that the only consequence was not
that the Congress leadership was forced to withdraw the Lok
Sabha election tickets of both Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler
but also that the party took a decision at the highest level to
give a Lok Sabha ticket and ensured victory of brother of Sajjan
Kumar as an MP, and made Tytler the in charge of the party in
Bihar, a most crucial assignment where the incumbent is to deal
with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on a day to day basis. So
much for any notion of justice to the Sikhs. Fresh chargesheets
also smell of old, rotten strategies of denial of justice. |
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CMM Baweja sent
both chargesheets and the closure report to the court of Additional
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lokesh Kumar at
Karkardooma
Court for further proceedings. When the time came for next hearing,
the judge was preoccupied with some other matter, so the next date
of hearing was fixed for February 23. Thank you so much. So much for
all the talk about expediting justice.
Even these three
cases were registered on recommendation of the Justice Nanavati
Commission in 2005. One has already been closed.
Even such
inadequate action came four years after Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh promised to initiate action on the cases recommended by the
Nanavati Commission for the 1984
Delhi carnage.
This is, however, not the first time that CBI has chargesheeted
Sajjan Kumar for murder in the 1984 cases. In an earlier instance
too, CBI had accused him of leading a mob that killed one Navin
Singh in Sultanpuri. But the trial court acquitted him in 2002 and
CBI’s appeal is pending in the Delhi high court.
Meanwhile, after
Jarnail Singh threw a shoe across Home Minister Chidambaram’s face,
and thereby also the face of the Indian nation state, we must
remember that the only consequence was not that the Congress
leadership was forced to withdraw the Lok Sabha election tickets of
both Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler but also that the party took a
decision at the highest level to give a Lok Sabha ticket and ensured
victory of brother of Sajjan Kumar as an MP, and made Tytler the
incharge of the party in Bihar, a most crucial assignment where the
incumbent is to deal with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on a day to
day basis.
So much for any
notion of justice to the Sikhs. Fresh chargesheets also smell of
old, rotten strategies of denial of justice.
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Case file
Nov 1, 1984
| Sajjan Kumar leads mobs against Sikhs in Sultanpuri and
Mongolpuri in West Delhi
Dec 22, 1994
| CBI chargesheets Kumar and 12 others for the murder of Navin
Singh, who was killed by the mob on Nov 1, 1984, in front of his
house in Sultanpuri
Dec 23, 2002
| The Congress leader and eight others, accused in murder case
registered at Sultanpuri, are acquitted by a trial court for
lack of evidence. Sajjan Kumar was facing trial for allegedly
leading a mob that killed 49 Sikhs
Nov 2003 |
CBI appeals in Delhi HC against the lower court verdict saying
‘‘the trial court did not consider the statements of prosecution
witnesses before various inquiry commissions’’
Feb 2005 |
Nanavati commission recommends registration of three cases from
Delhi Cantt, Sultanpuri and Mangolpuri against Sajjan Kumar and
others
March 2007 |
Delhi HC admits appeal by CBI against acquittal of Sajjan Kumar,
Cong MLA Jai Kishan and eight others
Dec 31, 2009
| Delhi LG Tejendra Khanna gives nod to CBI to prosecute Sajjan
Kumar
Jan 13, 2010
| CBI files chargesheets in two separate cases against Kumar and
others. Court fixes Jan 18 as the date for taking cognizance of
final reports
Jan 13, 2010
| CBI filed closure report in the third case, claiming lack of
evidence |
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20
January 2010
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