Police Fiddled While Delhi Burnt

The Times Of India. August 09, 2005

The Nanavati Commission inquiring into the massacre of nearly 3,000 Sikhs in the Capital in 1984 makes clear that the violence from November 1 acquired an organised form and says it was driven by the personal political agenda of Delhi’s Congress leaders.

One of the leaders squarely accused of inciting the mobs is Tytler, about whom the report says that “very probably he had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs’’ and recommends that the government “take further action as may be found necessary’’.

Dharam Dass Shastri, another Congress MP at the time who is now no more, has also been found guilty of inciting violence against Sikhs as has been Bhagat.

The report, however, clears two other Congress leaders, Vasant Sathe and Kamal Nath. About Sathe, it reaches the conclusion that the witness accusing him may have had a “wrong impression about his presence’’.

The acquittal of Kamal Nath is somewhat less categorical, with the report questioning some aspects of the evidence he had submitted in his defence, but deciding that there was not enough against him to conclude that he did instigate the mob to violence.

The evidence presented in the report and the comments of the commission bring out all too clearly just how the Delhi police and the administration failed to deal with the situation.

It concurs with the finding of an earlier commission that the police was not only negligent, but also in some cases complicit in the violence.

It also endorses the earlier finding that there was an inordinate delay in calling in the army, a delay which cost thousands of lives.

Apart from determining the culpability of various leaders and administrators, the commission has also made some recommendations on the compensation and rehabilitation of those affected.

It has noted that the rates of compensation being paid vary across states and has asked the Centre to ensure uniformity.

It has also suggested that the government should consider providing a job to one member of each of the families that lost their earning male members and which have no means of livelihood.

The ATR has agreed to advise state governments to ensure uniformity in compensation, but is silent on providing jobs to the badly affected families.