Chillar tears lost to wind as cops ‘lose’ FIR
March 03, 2011 3:18:26 AM
Rakesh Ranjan | Chillar (Rewari)
It is the sorry tale of 30-odd victims of the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984, craving justice but being denied. Successive Haryana Governments made a brazen attempt to hush up the mass killing in a hamlet, Chillar, on the outskirts of Rewari in Haryana, following assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The FIR registered in this connection, according to police claims, has been lost and none of the perpetrators have been identified to date. The Pioneer, however, managed to lay its hands on a copy of the FIR, available with the survivors.
The police’s reluctance in investigating the matter is evident from the fact that they did not even bother to record the statement of the eyewitness who had lodged the FIR. This was obviously done under the influence of the Government of the day, as perpetrators of the crime belonged to the then ruling Congress. “They were raising slogans to avenge the assassination of Indira Gandhi,” says Dhanpat Singh, a survivor.
As old-timers point out, police inaction not only allowed the killers to go scot free but also left the panic-stricken and vulnerable survivors to their fate.
“The sole FIR registered is lost. No attempt was ever made to trace survivors and eyewitnesses — including then village head Dhanpat Singh, who was witness to the mass killing, and the complainant,” said Joginder Singh Makkar, who was lucky to escape with his family. Makkar was 20 years old then. An advocate now, Makkar has been making attempts to bring the guilty to book.
The FIR was registered at Jatusana police station against unknown persons on November 3, 1984 — a day after the massacre, which had been reported to the police immediately. However, the current SHO of Jatusana, Rajesh Kumar, shrugs off the matter, saying, “The FIR is lost. The territorial jurisdiction of the spot of crime has also changed. The case can be reinvestigated on direction of the higher authorities.”
Makkar, on the other hand, wants the Chillar massacre to be probed by the CBI, like the anti-Sikh riots of Delhi. The Delhi cases were reopened after a journalist threw a shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram, following a clean chit to high-profile accused Jagdish Tytler.
Deceived by destiny and neglected by the State, Chillar victims have come forward for the first time to reveal the gory details. Time has failed to heal the wounds of 84-year-old Swaroop Singh, who lost his brother and 12 other members of his family. Tears roll down his eyes as he narrates the ordeal.
This settlement of nearly 16 Sikh families, who had migrated from Pakistan at the time of the Partition, came under attack around 11 am. The frenzied mob — consisting of nearly 300 persons — went on killing spree till 6 pm. The hapless Sikhs had assembled in three houses, two of which were set ablaze, killing 31 persons.
“Armed with iron rods and cans of kerosene, attackers made a hole in the roof and poured kerosene through it, setting the houses afire. When one Balwant Singh retaliated, killing one of the attackers with his sword, mobsters fled the spot,” recalls Swaroop Singh.
He adds, “As the whole village had been torched, the family — along with women and children of the neighbouring houses — decided to leave Chillar. They took shelter with a Hindu family in the adjacent village of Dhanora, from where they were ferried to Rewari by one Chandrabhan Singh late in the night.”
A few of the men managed to escape the massacre as it was harvesting time and they were camping in the fields. On hearing news, they left for different destinations to seek help. The matter was reported to police but no help came.
Chandrabhan Singh recalls, “On the scary night of November 2, I rescued 30-odd members of the Sikh community to Rewari in a tractor trolley. There was no police protection to the victims despite the then Superintendent of Police visiting the village in the evening… Twenty-six years have gone but none of the victims have dared to revisit their abandoned properties in the village. ”Meanwhile, the victims feel raising the issue in Parliament is the only ray of hope.
“It is an unfortunate incident, where the entire village was set ablaze. It is a blot on the secular fabric of the country and the duty of our Parliamentarians to set an example by re-establishing this village,” said Makkar.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/321626/Chillar-tears-lost-to-wind-as-cops-‘lose’-FIR.html
