Sajjan Kumar sentenced to life in anti-Sikh riots case: Why did it take so long?

India Today

Former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a second case related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Transcript

00:00Sajjan Kumar now sentenced to life imprisonment in a second case involving murder, but it's taken 40 years.

00:07It's taken 40 years. You had several commissions of inquiry. You had SIT, CBI inquiries. Why did it take so long?

00:14Actually, right from the very beginning, these killings were done by the government with the aid of the government machinery.

00:29The government was fully involved and these people were only following the instructions of their bosses.

00:37So after these killings, they were rewarded. We are talking about the punishment.

00:44The government was busy rewarding them. Obviously, they tried to completely shield them, completely shelter them.

00:56The cases were not registered and after a long battle, when we managed to get the case registered,

01:04then the charge sheet cases were closed, charge sheet was not filed.

01:08Then again after a long battle, when we managed to file the charge sheet, when it goes to the court,

01:14then the judges, they manipulate the judges. If any judge passes the order in favor of the victim,

01:20he is transferred, the roster of the high court is changed.

01:23These kind of things. This is what was happening right from the very beginning.

01:29You are saying, Mr. Phulka, right from the beginning, right from Sajjan Kumar, who was rewarded in your view,

01:37became multiple times MP at the time, to the government machinery, to the courts, to the police,

01:44all of them in some way were involved in blocking justice, each and every one of them,

01:50or do you single out one particular individual or agency?

01:54No, no, no, no. Everyone. You see, H.K.L. Pagat, the main mastermind, he was promoted and made the junior minister,

02:06earlier he was the minister of state before 84. Jagdish Chatur, he was not in cabinet in 84, he was a member of parliament.

02:13He was promoted and made the minister. And almost each and every, now Kamal Nath, Kamal Nath after that was rewarded,

02:22made the minister and after that the chief minister. Now each and every police officer against whom the allegations came,

02:31he was promoted, given the plum posting and most of them got 3-3 promotions.

02:38Now I give you the example. In the Trilokpuri area, which you were also there at that time, in journalism,

02:45in Trilokpuri area where Rahul Bedi and Joseph Malyakan had gone and witnessed it

02:53and said that how that SHO was also involved in the killing. In that police station only,

03:00according to official figure, over 306 were killed. And what he does? He seizes the weapons of the Sikhs.

03:09He arrests them and then hand over their homes and their children and their women to the mob.

03:18And that SHO has honorably retired and got promotions. He retired as ACP.

03:26When similarly, the DCP of East Delhi, Seva Das, in East Delhi, according to the official figure,

03:34on 1st November and on 2nd November, 1206 official figure says were killed.

03:41And on 1st and 2nd November, total 26 persons were arrested by him. All of them were Sikhs.

03:50All of them were Sikhs. And that Seva Das, DCP, was promoted to Official CP.

03:57Then he was promoted to Jowar CP. Then he was promoted to Special CP. And he honorably retired.

04:04So, each, whosoever is named by the victims, uski toh lottery lag jati thi.

04:10You are making, in fact, and I must remind our viewers who are not old enough, perhaps,

04:18who were born after 84, this was Rajiv Gandhi's Congress government.

04:22So, the stains, the blood stains remain on that government for what happened in 1984.

04:27And as Mr. Phoolkar is pointing out, many of those leaders were members of parliament, became ministers.

04:33They were, quote unquote, according to him, rewarded for what happened at the time.

04:39I can tell you, I was in college in 84, but I covered Trilok Puri 20 years later

04:44in a documentary that we did on the anti-Sikh pogrom 20 years later.

04:49But, Colin Gonsalves, is it also one thing that I noticed was witnesses turn hostile.

04:55And we've seen that in several cases, whether it's in 84, whether it's in 92, 93, or indeed in Gujarat in 2002.

05:03We saw witnesses turning hostile in these cases of mass murder, of communal violence.

05:10Is that one of the challenges, in a way, the judicial system faces?

05:14Well, Rajdeep, it's a symbol or it's an instance of the challenge.

05:20But the real challenge is a larger thing.

05:23And we have seen this story repeated from the 94 Bombay riots onwards.

05:28The main thing is that no riot can succeed in India, and certainly not in Delhi,

05:33unless the government in power fully backs that riot.

05:38So the government is the main conspirator, executor of a riot.

05:42But that is to be expected, that the government will try and cover up as much as possible.

05:49But then when you have investigations, you will have enormous delays.

05:54And then everyone will lament how long it took to get justice to the victims, the Sikh victims in that case.

06:01But the story repeated itself again in the Delhi riots.

06:06And what you will find is that the very police force that participated in the riots,

06:13covered up for the riots, helped the accused person,

06:17the very police force then turns around and starts investigating the riots.

06:22So now you come to the last point.

06:25So then the only recourse is the judiciary.

06:28And the judiciary has failed again and again and again.

06:33Because against a powerful government that is engineering the riots

06:38and mobilizing public support for the riots,

06:41that government dominates the judiciary.

06:46And the judiciary cannot show spine.

06:49The judiciary cannot show resolve and determination to carry out and force an independent investigation.

06:57In the Delhi riots case, we went to the High Supreme Court immediately.

07:01And we said, appoint an SID of independent officers.

07:05And we gave the name of DGPs who are known for fearlessness and independence.

07:10Supreme Court found it a hot potato.

07:13Sent it to the High Court.

07:15High Court said, my God, this is a political hot potato.

07:18For three years and 25 appearances that I've done before the High Court,

07:23I have not managed to get the case started.

07:27Every judge knows, the senior judge knows that if they pick up the Delhi riots case,

07:32order an independent investigation, say these five DGPs,

07:36will look at the investigation and come up with an independent report

07:40that will scare the government to no end.

07:42They know that if they do that, they will never reach the Supreme Court.

07:47So it's the judiciary at the end.

07:50Everybody else we know, the police and etc.

07:53But the judiciary has no spine to stand up to a government

07:57that has clearly participated and engineered a riot.

08:01So does the buck, Mr. Phulka, then stop with the political executive?

08:05Today, when a Sajjan Kumar is finally sentenced after 40 years,

08:10there'll be a sense that in most of those 40 years, you've had Congress governments,

08:16but you've also had BJP governments for a while. Mr. Vajpayee was Prime Minister.

08:20Various commissions were appointed. The Ranganath Mishra, the Nanavati commission was appointed.

08:26Four commissions, nine committees, two SITs.

08:29Does the buck, you believe, stop with the political executive?

08:32If the political executive said, please prosecute everyone without fear or favor,

08:37do you believe the police and the judiciary would have taken the cue? A quick answer.

08:41You see, actually this killing of 1984, killing of the Sikhs were organized by the Deep State.

08:52It was the intelligence agencies who were involved. And even after that, whatever may be the government,

09:00that Deep State was protecting them. In 1990, during the government of VP Singh,

09:06the case was registered on the recommendation of the Justice Committee.

09:10The CBI goes to arrest Sajjan Kumar. The CBI is made hostages. The jeeps of the CBI are set on fire.

09:18The cars of the CBI are set on fire and the CBI is made hosted and kept in their captives.

09:24And Delhi Police didn't help it. So, this is the kind of thing which happened.

09:30And like what Colin had said, whenever there is a mass, it's not only rats, whenever there is a mass scale violence,

09:39it is not possible without the connivance of the police and the political masters.

09:45And after that, they cover it up totally. You see, what I have been saying always,

09:53that it is necessary to fight. Do not give up the fight. It is necessary to send a message to these political people

10:03that if you are in power today, a day will come when law will catch up with you.

10:08And this is what has happened in case of Sajjan Kumar.

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