1984 trial finally begins
A recent article by Zee News discusses Harvinder Kaur’s struggle for justice. She lost her husband and other relatives in the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms; on April 29, a Delhi court finally began recording evidence.
When Harvinder Kaur initially attempted to file a FIR twelve years ago, the East Delhi police refused to register it. The FIR was finally registered in 1996, and named six people including the late Congress leader HKL Bhagat. He was later discharged from the case for lack of evidence.
Based on Harvinder Kaur’s affadavit, the Jain committee recommended the registration of the case. The court began recording Harvinder Kaur’s statements on April 29. Five Congress workers have been charge-sheeted for the killing of her husband, her son, and her son in law.
In her deposition, Kaur said she was witness to the incident in which a mob, allegedly led by local congress leaders, stabbed and hacked to death with swords three members of her family on November 2, 1984.
The delays and problems with prosecution that Harvinder Kaur experienced are typical of cases relating to the 1984 pogroms. Her testimony also demonstrates the role Congress party politicians had in organizing the violence, and how delays in filing FIRs and other tactics prevented the prosecution of perpetrators.
Twenty Years of Impunity: The November 1984 Pogroms of Sikhs in India reveals the systematic and organized manner in which state institutions, such as the Delhi Police, and Congress (I) officials perpetrated mass murder in November 1984 and later justified the violence in inquiry proceedings. The report demonstrates that police officers not only passively observed the violence, but also actively participated in the attacks and made promises of impunity to assailants. The report also examines the role of the Congress Party in organizing the massacres, delivering inflammatory speeches instructing attendees to kill Sikhs, and distributing weapons, money, and voter lists identifying Sikhs and their properties. Grave lapses in police investigations, delays in filing cases, the failure to identify and investigate prosecution witnesses, the deliberate misrecording of witness statements, and the failure to comply with legal procedures precluded effective prosecutions against major perpetrators.
In other news related to the 1984 pogroms, Rs 26 lakh in compensation was paid to families of victims of the 1984 pogroms on April 24.
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Mr Amarjit Pal, SDM, gave cheques to 13 kin of the victim of riots. A sum of Rs 2 lakh each was given to the victim families.
Mr Pal said another Rs 14 lakh would be distributed among the families of the riot-hit soon.
June 15th, 2006 at 2:55 am
There is much debate on the unfettered impunity granted by the virtue of Section 197 to the Police Officers. The police cannot cause injury to a citizen, except under three circumstances: (i) while dispersing an unlawful assembly, (ii) when making an arrest, though with the exception of section 46 Cr.P.C. states that when using force against a person resisting arrest the police cannot cause the death of the person unless he is accused of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life. Section 49 Cr.P.C. directs that an arrested person shall not be subjected to more restraint than necessary to prevent his escape, and (iii) in exercise of the right of private defence, which right is available to every citizen and is covered by sections 96 to 106 IPC. In a democracy, the police have to be part of civil society and accountable to it. Policing in a democratic society mean adhering to Rule of Law and that No one is above law and no one can go unpunished for the crimes they commit. Essential to the principle of accountability is the existence of machinery for redress of grievances against the police. India, although it signed the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), failed to ratify the convention on the pretext that the existing domestic mechanism in the country has enough built-in provisions to serve the purpose of the convention. However, the domestic mechanism has proved to serve any purpose.