Cong not to blame
for anti-Sikh riots: Report
New Delhi, January 27, 2005
Rajdeep Sardesai
NDTV
The Justice Nanavati report on the anti-Sikh riots
of 1984 is ready and will be given to the Home Ministry
next week.
For more than two decades, the sepia-tinted images
of the riots, have haunted the nation. But they haven't
led to justice for the victims.
The report of the commission could jog public memory
once again.
Clean chit
NDTV has learnt that the Commission will not directly
indict the Congress party for its role in the violence.
According to sources, the commission feels that the
violence was "organised" and "systematic"
in several areas.
But it maintains that the entire Congress party apparatus
cannot be held responsible for the acts of individual
politicians, hooligans, depraved people and local
gangs.
The report, according to sources, does not hold the
then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi directly responsible
in any way for the failure to check the violence.
"How can a prime minister be held responsible
for each and every action in a police station or a
particular district of Delhi?" is the explanation
being given.
Under scanner
However, the role of another former prime minister,
late Narasimha Rao, who was home minister at the time,
has come under greater scrutiny.
According to sources, the Commission feels that as
home minister, Rao did not act quickly and decisively
enough in controlling the law and order situation.
There are also no adverse findings against two other
union minister Kamal Nath and Jagdish Tytler, who
deposed before the Commission.
According to sources, the evidence
brought against them was weak.
Re-investigate cases
But the Commission has found enough evidence from
witnesses to recommend a re-investigation of cases
against some party leaders.
These include sitting Congress MP from outer Delhi,
Sajjan Kumar, former union minister H K L Bhagat and
another former Delhi MP, Dharamdas Shastri.
Ironically, Kumar is the only active politician who
could face embarrassment and even he has been acquitted
by the Delhi High Court in one major case.
The Commission is also likely to pass strictures
against senior Delhi police officers at the time and
recommend departmental inquiries against them.
But here again, Commission sources maintain, "you
cannot blame the police as an institution for the
failure of individual officers."
Justice served?
According to sources, the Commission's terms of reference
do not allow it to pronounce on the guilt of anyone.
It can only ask for re-investigation in those cases,
which the police filed as "untraced" but
where witnesses have now come forward to depose against
individuals who were part of the mob.
The other category is the cases where people were
named by witnesses but not made accused.
The Commission received more than 10,000 affidavits
and examined 197 witnesses.
But there is a question mark over whether it has
come any closer to providing real justice to the victims
of the 1984 riots.
Ironically, Justice Nanavati is also heading the
commission appointed to inquire into the Gujarat riots.
His report then might only then end up reviving the
debate on whether inquiry commissions alone can ensure
speedy and genuine justice to the victims of communal
riots.
Muted reactions
Political reactions to the development reported by
NDTV were muted.
Kumar walked away when told he was one of the politicians
against whom action had been recommended.
The Congress has side stepped comments against individual
leaders, but it says the report proves the BJP launched
a misleading campaign against the party.
"The BJP campaign has been slanderous and this
report exposes this," says Anand Sharma, Congress
spokesperson.
Cautious approach
It's the BJP, which is now reacting cautiously, after
accusing the Congress of orchestrating the anti-Sikh
riots. The NDA government had set up this committee
in 2003.
"I don't think this conclusion is possible.
All commissions of inquiry before this has blamed
the Congress. We will officially react only after
seeing the report," says V K Malhotra, BJP spokesperson.
Over the last 20 years, a commission of inquiry and
eight committees were set up to investigate the anti-Sikh
riots.
Officially, 2733 people were killed but only nine
people, none of them Congress workers, have received
life sentences.
Only two Congress leaders, Sajjan Kumar and H K L
Bhagat, were indicted. But Kumar was acquitted by
a lower court in 2002 and his case presently rests
with the Delhi High Court. And Bhagat is now medically
unfit and cannot make a statement.
