When a Tree Shook Delhi

Manoj Mitta, Hs Phoolka

Description

It stands out even in a country inured to mass violence - 3,000 members of a minority community slaughtered over three days in 1984, right in India's capital. Twenty-three years on, neither the organizers of the massacre nor the state players who facilitated it have been punished, despite prolonged inquiries and trials. This massacre of Sikhs in the wake of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination has turned out to be a reality check on India's much touted institutions of the rule of law. The book seeks to uncover the truth on the basis of the evidence that came to light during the proceedings of the latest judicial inquiry conducted by the Nanavati Commission. Authors Manoj Mitta and H.S. Phoolka, perhaps the most knowledgeable voices on the subject, present an unsparing account, abounding with insights and revelations, on the 1984 carnage and its aftermath.

Sujets

• justice
• Political Science
• Sijismo
• 1984 anti-Sikh riots
• Judiciary of India
• Nanavati commission
• Advocate
• Judiciary
• Congress
• Sikh
• Non-fiction
• Asian
• World
• Carnage
• Aftermath
• The Times of India
• Pogrom
• Massacre
• Sikhisme
• Indira Gandhi
• 1984

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 19 décembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789351940432
• Langue: English

Extrait

WHEN A TREE SHOOK DELHI

OTHER LOTUS TITLES:
Aitzaz Ahsan


The Indus Saga: The Making of Pakistan
Alam Srinivas


Storms in the Sea Wind: Ambani vs Ambani
Amir Mir


The True Face of Jehadis: Inside Pakistan’s Terror Networks
Bhawana Somayya


Hema Malini: The Authorised Biography
M.J. Akbar


India: The Siege Within
M.J. Akbar


Kashmir: Behind the Vale
M.J. Akbar


Nehru: The Making ofIndia
M.J. Akbar


Riot after Riot
M.J. Akbar


The Shade ofSwords
M.J. Akbar


Byline
M.J. Akbar


Blood Brothers: A Family Saga
Maj.Gen. Ian Cardozo


Param Vir: Our Heroes in Battle
Maj.Gen. Ian Cardozo


The Sinking of INS Khukri: What Happened in 1971
Meghnad Desai


Nehru’s Hero Dilip Kumar: In the Life of India
Mushirul Hasan


India Partitioned. 2 Vols
Mushirul Hasan


John Company to the Republic
Mushirul Hasan


Knowledge, Power and Politics
Nayantara Sahgal (ed.)


Before Freedom: Nehru’s Letters to His Sister
Rohan Gunaratna


Inside Al Qaeda
Sharmishta Gooptu and Boria Majumdar (eds)


Revisiting 1857: Myth, Memory, History
Shrabani Basu Spy Princess:


The Life of Noor Inayat Khan
Shashi Joshi


The Last Durbar
Thomas Weber


Gandhi, Gandhism and the Gandhians
V. Srinivasan


New Age Management: Philosophy from Ancient Indian Wisdom
Verghese Kurien, as told to Gouri Salvi


I Too Had a Dream
Vir Sanghvi


Men of Steel: Indian Business Leaders in Candid Conversation
FORTHCOMING TITLES:



H.L.O. Garrett


The Trial of Bahadur Shah
Tanushree Poddar


Boots, Belts, Berets



Lotus Collection
© Manoj Mitta & HS Phoolka, 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher.
First published in 2007 The Lotus Collection An imprint of Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. M-75, G.K. II Market, New Delhi 110 048 Phones: ++91 (011) 2921 2271, 2921 2782 2921 0886, Fax: ++91 (011) 2921 7185 E-mail: [e-mail] Website: rolibooks.com Also at Varanasi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Jaipur & Mumbai
Cover design: Layout design : Narendra Shahi
ISBN: 978-81-7436-598-9 Rs. 395/-

Contents

Preface
PART 1 – UNCOVERING THE ‘TRUTH’
Dateline New Delhi
Forebodings
Disarming Tactics
Block 32
Plight of a War Hero
A Tale of Two Gurdwaras
Masterly Inaction
Rape in the Time of Mourning
Under the Army’s Nose
False Hero
PART II – THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE: AN INSIDE ACCOUNT
Personal Fallout
The Beginning of the Struggle
Clubbing the Good with the Bed
A Farce of an Inquiry
Withdrawal
Further Cover-up
Turning Point
Pitched Battles
Travails of Leaders
A Fresh Inquiry
Late Impact
Small Mercy
Epilogue
Annexure

Preface

A lthough the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi dates back to 1984, most of the material on it – spread over 1,000 official files – came to light incrementally from 2001 to 2004, that is, in thecourse of a second judicial inquiry into the carnage.
When the inquiry report of the Justice GT Nanavati Commission was made public in 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in the Lok Sabha: ‘Twenty-one years have passed ... and yet the feeling persists that somehow the truth has not come out.’
An extraordinary admission, considering that the tacit purpose of appointing the second judicial inquiry in 2000, in an unprecedented development, and with a consensus among the political parties, was to undo the whitewash by the first, the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission, which had conducted all its proceedings under a veil of secrecy in 1985–86.
Furthermore, since the Nanavati Commission reiterated the Misra Commission’s clean chit to his political party’s government in1984, Manmohan Singh could not have possibly had any vested interest in voicing the widespread feeling in 2005 that the truth had still not been revealed.
This book seeks to bring out the truth, redressing the failure of the two judicial inquiries conducted by Supreme Court judges. The material available for setting the record straight is abundant. Though its report turned out to be deficient, the proceedings of the Nanavati Commission were themselves a model of transparency, as the body representing the victims, the Carnage Justice Committee, was allowed to photocopy almost all the documents submitted by the government.
Thus, besides the reports of the two judicial inquiries published by the government, this book is based on the plethora of records disclosed during the Nanavati probe. Those include the reports of three administrative probes conducted on the recommendation of the Misra Commission:
The Kusum Lata Mittal Committee report on the delinquencies of police personnel during the carnage.
The Jain-Aggarwal Committee report on the deficiencies in the registration, investigation, and prosecution of cases related to the carnage.
The RK Ahooja Committee report on the death toll of the carnage.
Evidence collected by the abortive Ved Marwah Committee appointed by Delhi Police.
Reports by police officers, from station house officers to the commissioner, on what each of them did during the fateful period.
Log books of police stations and officers.
Log books of fire stations.
Affidavits filed before the Misra Commission, and statements recorded by it, except those of the persons who had dealt with the carnage in various official capacities.
Affidavits and statements from the records of the Nanavati Commission, including the replies filed by political leaders and public servants to specific notices about allegations of their complicity.
The challenge of making sense of such elaborate and complex evidence, and locating places where the reports by Justices Misra and Nanavati had suppressed the truth demanded, sure enough, not only legal acumen but also intimate knowledge of the carnage and its aftermath.
The authors of this book meet both criteria. While senior advocate, HS Phoolka, spearheaded the struggle for justice for carnage victims right from the beginning, legal journalist Manoj Mitta, served as a catalyst to the cause by exposing cover-ups at critical stages. Their coming together for this book is, in fact, an extension of their collaboration stretching over two decades.
Phoolka was the convenor of the Citizens Justice Committee, which was the main representative of the victims before the Misra Commission. He also led the legal team of the successor body, the Carnage Justice Committee, in all the proceedings before the Nanavati Commission. Much as he is an interested party and, indeed, the face of the whole fight for justice, this book is by no means a summary of Phoolka’s arguments before the Nanavati Commission. Mitta’s involvement in the book has imparted a necessary detachment to it. While following up the carnage issue in a succession of national publications ( The Times of India , India Today , and The Indian Express ), Mitta has interacted closely with an array of persons engaged in cover-ups: political leaders, police and military officers, bureaucrats, judges, government lawyers, and defence counsel. Having conceived its structure, Mitta has taken pains to ensure that the book is based mainly on the wealth of evidence that emerged in the course of the Nanavati probe.
The book is divided into two parts. The first is a journalistic reconstruction of the carnage, by Mitta, with inputs from Phoolka. The second is a first-person account of Phoolka’s struggle for justice, as told to Mitta. There is also an annexure providing excerpts from testimonies before the judicial inquiries by prominent citizens and a victim. Enhancing the value of the book is a selection of contemporaneous photographs from different sources. The authors assume collective responsibility for the veracity of the entire book.
Given the passion they share for human rights and the rule of law, the authors hope that this book will serve as a reality check on some of the most touted institutions of the Indian democracy.

PART – I
UNCOVERING THE ‘ TRUTH ’

Dateline New Delhi

19 November 1984: It was barely a fortnight since thousands of Sikhs were orphaned, widowed, or rendered homeless in the wake of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Her son and successor, Rajiv Gandhi, likened the pogrom to the reverberations caused by the impact of a fallen tree: ‘But, when a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little.’
The statement created a sensation as it was the first time Rajiv justified the conduct of the mobs, which had sought to avenge his mother’s murder. The justification set the tone for the cover-up of the massacre as well as the election held a month later.
Even otherwise, the tree-shaking-the-earth metaphor caught the popular imagination because of the occasion on which Rajiv came up with it at the Boat Club near India Gate. It was the first rally addressed by him as prime minister, commemorating Indira’s first birth anniversary after her death.
While paying tributes to his mother, Rajiv desisted from condemning the horrendous reprisal to her murder, let alone promising to take any action against the guilty. The closest he came to expressing any reservations about the massacre of Sikhs was for its strategic repercussions to the nation, rather than any human rights considerations. Referring to the need to ensure peace, Rajiv cautioned, ‘Any action taken in anger can cause harm to the country. Sometimes, by acting in anger, we only help those who want to break up the country.’
Empathizing with their krodh (intense anger), as he originally put it in Hindi, Rajiv commended the mobs for ending the bloodshed as they did in