Sajjan Kumar (PTI)
On Wednesday, as a Delhi court docket convicted former Congress parliamentarian Sajjan Kumar in an anti-Sikh riots case for instigating a mob to kill Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh and his son in Delhi’s Saraswati Vihar on November 1, 1984, Kaur wept once more.
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“I didn’t know them; I don’t know his wife and other relatives, but I know what they have gone through… Sajjan Kumar should not be alive. I saw him instigating locals against us… I watched rioters jump on my husband, remove his turban… His own friend came looking for him, and I watched as they doused him in fuel and burnt him. I know what others like me have gone through,” stated Kaur, who now lives in Tilak Vihar – 5 km away from the place the daddy and son have been killed by a mob in Saraswati Vihar.
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Over 40 years after the riots, Saraswati Vihar doesn’t resemble the colony it as soon as was.
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Almost all Sikh households moved out – some to authorities offered homes in Tilak Vihar close by, whereas others like Singh’s spouse and daughter moved additional away. There aren’t any remnants of the colony it as soon as was, not even the homes that after stood tall.
Atma Singh, 66, a resident of Tilak Vihar who misplaced 11 members of his household within the riots, instructed HT, “I have known Jaswant’s family for decades. His wife initially didn’t know about the legal procedures, so some of us helped her out. Through the years, she has stayed quiet because she was hoping for justice. She is still not ready to talk… They faced a lot and left this area entirely… We are all waiting for justice.”
In Tilak Vihar, the conviction has introduced up a flurry of horrid recollections for the residents, who stated that the delay in justice is unforgivable, and that they will solely hope for the harshest punishment for Kumar.
Manjeet Kaur, 75, misplaced her husband to the violence, and has now misplaced all hope of seeing the accused being punished.
“One or two convictions – that too after 40 years – won’t help. I don’t care for what the courts say now. I spent years going to police stations and courts, I recorded statements, I told them what I saw… I saw Sajjan Kumar near our house. I saw him instigate people. Giving us compensation and a house has not helped us… All we want is justice,” she stated.
She stated that her husband was stabbed inside their residence in Palam, by a mob that threatened to rape her. “I think I will die like this… Remorseful about not being able to do anything for my husband.”
Wazir Singh, an auto rickshaw driver in Tilak Vihar, echoed related sentiments. He stated he was 9 years previous when he escaped from his home that was torched by a mob in Nangloi and was knowledgeable that his uncle was killed inside a gurudwara. At a buddy’s home, his hair was hurriedly chopped off, in order that rioters don’t determine him as a Sikh.
“We were well-off. We had three shops in the area… I hid under a bed for three days and later found out that my father was killed in the streets. We could never rebuild our lives after that… This conviction is also disappointing because it came so late. Forty-one years is a long time… A woman watched her husband and son die and she had to wait this long to get a conviction. It makes me think that we will never get justice,” he stated.