Tytler Exposed: Sikh priest recalls '84 riots horror - Yahoo! India News
Tytler Exposed: Sikh priest recalls '84 riots horror
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By IBNlive.com
Friday December 21, 09:18 PM
New Delhi: On October 31, 1984, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by two of her Sikh security guards. Immediately after, what unfolded on the streets of India was an unprecedented pogrom.
Nearly 3,000 Sikh men, women and children were killed across the country, allegedly by Congress hoodlums.
The worst-hit was the national capital where 2,733 Sikhs were burned alive and butchered. Twenty-three years, 10 investigative commissions, 13 convictions and an apology from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh haven’t done much to heal the wounds.
However, the chapter isn’t closed. Not just yet. Nearly a fortnight ago, CNN-IBN tracked down one of the key witnesses in the case, Jasbir Singh, in the United States of America. This after, CBI said it couldn’t trace him and therefore couldn’t consider him a witness in the case.
The biggest problem the prosecution faced in the case was that most witnesses turned hostile in court and the agencies had to close cases against the accused like Senior Congress leader and former minister Jagdish Tytler.
But a CNN-IBN Special Investigation reveals the testimony of a never-before-known key eyewitness in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. The investigation has on tape, for the first time, the eyewitness account of Surinder Singh, a Sikh priest, who saw three men being burnt to death in the presence of Tytler.
Surinder Singh was the priest at the Pulbangash Gurdwara in north Delhi- when the riots broke out. Given below is his chilling testimony. Remember, it has taken 23 years for these facts to emerge.
CNN-IBN: Te Tytler ne laayi aag onu? (Was Tytler the instigator?)
Surinder Singh: Jedi maheem di zimmedaari si o ose di si. Ek waari te main keh chukeyan o taan mere kolon likhwa ke le chuke hain asb kuch. Theek hai na. O jedi masjid hai na saamne, o masjid wale paase siga te lalkaare maar reha si oddaron lokaan nu ki.
Translation: (He was leading the charge. I have said it, I have given written statements. He was standing near the Masjid and egging on the mob, “Kill them! They have killed our mother.)
CNN-IBN: Tussi apni akkaan naal vekhya si? (Did you see this with your own eyes ?)
Surinder Singh: Mian apni akkhaan naal vekhyea teeno katal mere saamne hi hoye si. Badal Singh swere keertan karke 8 baje chala gaya. Te Azad market ch onu lokaan ne gher leya. a 1 tareek di gall hai, 1 st Nov di, Azad market ch public odey magar pai gai. O pajj ke amarsingh singh texla TV wale ne, road te hi onaa di dukaan si,onaa de ghar chhup gaya. Te o onu lab lub ke chale gaye te o mileya na, Ghantek baad ona nun fer pata lag gaya te fer o gharch hi wadd gaye. Te chat si odda ghar doosri manjil te. Oney apni kirpan kaddi hoyegi kise nu maaran layi par onu o kirpan kaddan hi nahi ditti,te duje bande ne pichheyon fadd leya te odi kirpan naal hi odaa tidd ( stomach) faad ditta. Utton assi dekh rahe haan sab kuchh. Assi te chuthi chat te haan te o te dooji chat te hai, te jadon taan odaa tidd faadta, tidd faadan naal banda marda nahi hai ik dam,marr da jaadon saans katti jaaye.
Translation: (With my own eyes I saw three murders. Badal Singh left after keertan at 8 am. The mob surrounded him at Azad market, I'm talking about November 1. He ran into the house of one Amarjeet Singh, and hid there. For an hour the mob could not find him. He came out an hour later. They spotted him. He ran to the terrace of the house. He brought out his kripan to defend himself. Someone grabbed it and stabbed him in the stomach with the kripan. We saw it all from our roof. After the stabbing Badal didn't die immediately.)
Surinder Singh: Te onnu thhalle suteya fer onane. Te thhalle sutt ke o redi hundi hai na koode wali,ode te onnu ladd ke leyaye hai, Gurudware de saamne,assi utton dekh rahe haan sab kuch, te naal hi nachde tapde log aa rahe hai, poore bhangre paunde,jiddaan vyaah shaadiyan da mahaul Honda hai na is tarah hi. Te saamne leya ke gurudware de, te onnu gurudware de saamne leya ke odde gale ch tire paaye hai, tire pehlaan hi otthe aa chukke sann. O jeda Badal singh si na onu jadon leyaye o tadap reha si banda ronda hai na jiddaan. Onaane odey Galey ch tire paaye, te odey uttey thoda jeya mitti ta tel chidkeya te onun aag laa deti, jeenda sadeya oh!
Translation: (They threw his body down from the second floor. Then they loaded it onto a garbage barrow. We were watching from the top. There they started dancing as if it was a wedding. They then brought him in front of the Gurudwara. There they put a tire around his neck, they had tires with them. Badal Singh was screaming and crying in pain but they put the tire around him, sprinkled kerosene and lit the fire. The man was burnt alive .)
Surinder Singh: Otton pehlan swere jadon attack hoya si, swere attack hoya 8 baje subah, ye mere naal inspector Thakur Singh si, o oddon Delhi committee de wich service karda si te sarkaar wallon retire ho chukeya si, police de vichchon. Te o raat da aaya hoya si Gurudware 31 tareek nu raat nu, 31 tareek nu hi lokaan na caran saad ditiyan si.. 8 -9 baje main katha kar reha haan te jedey sun rahe si unaadiyan caaran.. O police wala sadde otthe rehnda hi si kyunki odde behen -bhai jedey upar rehnde sann, swere jaddon onane sadde te hamla kitta te o mainu kehen lageya Gyani ji tussi bahar na jao mainu lokaan naal vartan da pata hai, main police vich rehaan te tussi pichhe rehna. Te o agge ho gaye main odey pichhe ho gaya. Uttey khalo ke kehen lageya eethe school khuleya hai Guru Teg Bahadur de naam te, bachchiyan da school hai 12 tak. Kehen lageya ki ethey 1,400 ladkiyan vichchon 1,200 ladki hindu hai, te 200 musalaman ladki hai. Te 60 teacheraan vichchon 50 teacheraan hindu ne te 10 teacheraan sikh dharma diyan ne. O samjha reha si lokaan nu par otthe samajhna kaun chanda si?
Translation: (In the morning, before the attack, at 8 am, Inspector Thakur Singh was with me. He was in our Gurudwara committee since her had retired from the police. He had come to the Gurudwara on the 31st. That night the mobs were already burning cars. In the morning when the attacks started, he (Thakur Singh) said Gyaniji don't go out. I've been in the police, stay behind me. He tried talking to the mob, told them there was a school nearby with Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in it. But nobody was ready to listen to him.)
Surinder Singh: Ek bande de haath o nalke di hatthi nahi hundi o si o odey sir ch maari hai..o otthe hi gir gaya. O thanedaar! Muh de bal gireya fer odey ton mudke uttheya nahi gaya odey baad oney mainu maareya aithey . Aithey keel jeya ghup gaya si, idhar mainu satt lagi. Mere sar di satt si te mainu wi kuch samajh nahi aa reha si fer, ossey wele o taan dig peya thalle taan fer mere maari. Par babe, ne jiddan kise nu bachana hunda hai na o aiye darwaza si peechhe. odey peechhe five kirpana paiyyan hoyeyaan si, o assi rakhiyan si bhai kise wele je lod payi saanu, main jiddan hi digeya o kirpan seedhe mere haath ch hi aa gayi, o banda dooja maaran lageya si mainu te main is tarah hi kirpan ghuma ditti..main is tarah onnu maari hai,onnu peechhe hataan layi, te fer odda muh kateya gaya. Te log fer odda, jad khoon nikaleya oddey te o rone lageya te fer o log natthe te taan main bacheya.
Translation: (It doesn’t matter how many times you hear it, the horror of what happened in Delhi - the capital of this country - and other parts of India in November 1984 never really goes away- what makes it worse is the knowledge our country's senior most politicians were seen leading the mobs - many times they were accompanied by policemen- the very people charged with upholding the law- were the people killing the future of so many. Here's Surinder Singh again.)
Surinder Singh: Police wale ne keha. SHO nahi si, SHO te thane ch band si, SHO sardar si Amarjeet singh, onu band kitta hoya si kyunki assi baad wich gaye hai na te saanu taan pata lageya. Othhe jidey aam police wale hunde ne o si.
Translation: (The policemen said the SHO was not with them. They said they had locked him up at the thana. Because the local SHO was a Sikh named Amarjeet Singh. He (Tytler) was there with the police.)
Surinder Singh also described the killing of another man that morning. A man who worked at a local television store, a revelation being made for the first time.
Surinder Singh: Badal jaddon geya na Amarjeet de ghar te Amarjeet da naukar mil geya te o vi sardar si te onu vi unaane maar ditta. Te odi laash vi Gurudware de stamen leja ke saadi. Teen matlab katal hue, Badal singh raagi da,police inspector Thankur Singh da te Amarjeet jo hai texla TV wala unaade naukar da.
Translation: (After Badal Singh hid in the TV shopowner Amarjeet's house. The mob found Amarjeet's servant. They killed him as well. The burnt him in front of the Gurudwara as well. So there were three killings, Badal Singh, Police Inspector Thakur Singh and Amarjeet's servant.)
Just days after the riots, Surinder Singh says Tytler himself came to meet him at the Gurudwara.
Surinder Singh: On November 10, Jagdish Tytler came to the Gurudwara and asked me to sign on two sheets of paper, which I refused to sign.
In fact, Singh says that in his first deposition before the Nanavati Commission he had openly declared that if he faced pressure and death threats from the Congress Party then he would turn hostile.
Surinder Singh: Nanavati naal meri gal baat hoyi te Nanavati ne mainu bulaya. Main saareyan saamne keha ki ye ye bande si par main onaanu keha main twaanu vi keh raha hun ki aaj sarkar dooji hai te main bayaan de ditta, kal nu sarkaar badal gayi main fer mukar jaana kyunki main marna nahi hai, seedhi jayi gal hai. Ye maine kaha Nanavati ko, sarakar ab fir badal gayi fir unka raaj hai.
Translation: (Judge Nanavati questioned me why didn't you speak up before, why have you spoken out after so many years. I told him that earlier it was the rule of the Congress Party how could've I said anything against them?)
CNN-IBN: Did they threaten you?
Surinder Singh: It did not happen once it has happened so many times. Had I not done that things would've got over then itself because I am his sole witness, Jasbir Singh is nobody. He's come out of I don't know where. All this happened in front of me.
By silencing the main eyewitness, Tytler effectively diluted the allegations of his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
But with a Delhi Court directing the CBI to reopen the case against him, Tytler will find it difficult to wash away the stains left behind 23 years ago.
Email to friend | Most emailed | Discuss
Tytler Exposed: Sikh priest recalls '84 riots horror
Enlarge Photo
By IBNlive.com
Friday December 21, 09:18 PM
New Delhi: On October 31, 1984, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by two of her Sikh security guards. Immediately after, what unfolded on the streets of India was an unprecedented pogrom.
Nearly 3,000 Sikh men, women and children were killed across the country, allegedly by Congress hoodlums.
The worst-hit was the national capital where 2,733 Sikhs were burned alive and butchered. Twenty-three years, 10 investigative commissions, 13 convictions and an apology from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh haven’t done much to heal the wounds.
However, the chapter isn’t closed. Not just yet. Nearly a fortnight ago, CNN-IBN tracked down one of the key witnesses in the case, Jasbir Singh, in the United States of America. This after, CBI said it couldn’t trace him and therefore couldn’t consider him a witness in the case.
The biggest problem the prosecution faced in the case was that most witnesses turned hostile in court and the agencies had to close cases against the accused like Senior Congress leader and former minister Jagdish Tytler.
But a CNN-IBN Special Investigation reveals the testimony of a never-before-known key eyewitness in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. The investigation has on tape, for the first time, the eyewitness account of Surinder Singh, a Sikh priest, who saw three men being burnt to death in the presence of Tytler.
Surinder Singh was the priest at the Pulbangash Gurdwara in north Delhi- when the riots broke out. Given below is his chilling testimony. Remember, it has taken 23 years for these facts to emerge.
CNN-IBN: Te Tytler ne laayi aag onu? (Was Tytler the instigator?)
Surinder Singh: Jedi maheem di zimmedaari si o ose di si. Ek waari te main keh chukeyan o taan mere kolon likhwa ke le chuke hain asb kuch. Theek hai na. O jedi masjid hai na saamne, o masjid wale paase siga te lalkaare maar reha si oddaron lokaan nu ki.
Translation: (He was leading the charge. I have said it, I have given written statements. He was standing near the Masjid and egging on the mob, “Kill them! They have killed our mother.)
CNN-IBN: Tussi apni akkaan naal vekhya si? (Did you see this with your own eyes ?)
Surinder Singh: Mian apni akkhaan naal vekhyea teeno katal mere saamne hi hoye si. Badal Singh swere keertan karke 8 baje chala gaya. Te Azad market ch onu lokaan ne gher leya. a 1 tareek di gall hai, 1 st Nov di, Azad market ch public odey magar pai gai. O pajj ke amarsingh singh texla TV wale ne, road te hi onaa di dukaan si,onaa de ghar chhup gaya. Te o onu lab lub ke chale gaye te o mileya na, Ghantek baad ona nun fer pata lag gaya te fer o gharch hi wadd gaye. Te chat si odda ghar doosri manjil te. Oney apni kirpan kaddi hoyegi kise nu maaran layi par onu o kirpan kaddan hi nahi ditti,te duje bande ne pichheyon fadd leya te odi kirpan naal hi odaa tidd ( stomach) faad ditta. Utton assi dekh rahe haan sab kuchh. Assi te chuthi chat te haan te o te dooji chat te hai, te jadon taan odaa tidd faadta, tidd faadan naal banda marda nahi hai ik dam,marr da jaadon saans katti jaaye.
Translation: (With my own eyes I saw three murders. Badal Singh left after keertan at 8 am. The mob surrounded him at Azad market, I'm talking about November 1. He ran into the house of one Amarjeet Singh, and hid there. For an hour the mob could not find him. He came out an hour later. They spotted him. He ran to the terrace of the house. He brought out his kripan to defend himself. Someone grabbed it and stabbed him in the stomach with the kripan. We saw it all from our roof. After the stabbing Badal didn't die immediately.)
Surinder Singh: Te onnu thhalle suteya fer onane. Te thhalle sutt ke o redi hundi hai na koode wali,ode te onnu ladd ke leyaye hai, Gurudware de saamne,assi utton dekh rahe haan sab kuch, te naal hi nachde tapde log aa rahe hai, poore bhangre paunde,jiddaan vyaah shaadiyan da mahaul Honda hai na is tarah hi. Te saamne leya ke gurudware de, te onnu gurudware de saamne leya ke odde gale ch tire paaye hai, tire pehlaan hi otthe aa chukke sann. O jeda Badal singh si na onu jadon leyaye o tadap reha si banda ronda hai na jiddaan. Onaane odey Galey ch tire paaye, te odey uttey thoda jeya mitti ta tel chidkeya te onun aag laa deti, jeenda sadeya oh!
Translation: (They threw his body down from the second floor. Then they loaded it onto a garbage barrow. We were watching from the top. There they started dancing as if it was a wedding. They then brought him in front of the Gurudwara. There they put a tire around his neck, they had tires with them. Badal Singh was screaming and crying in pain but they put the tire around him, sprinkled kerosene and lit the fire. The man was burnt alive .)
Surinder Singh: Otton pehlan swere jadon attack hoya si, swere attack hoya 8 baje subah, ye mere naal inspector Thakur Singh si, o oddon Delhi committee de wich service karda si te sarkaar wallon retire ho chukeya si, police de vichchon. Te o raat da aaya hoya si Gurudware 31 tareek nu raat nu, 31 tareek nu hi lokaan na caran saad ditiyan si.. 8 -9 baje main katha kar reha haan te jedey sun rahe si unaadiyan caaran.. O police wala sadde otthe rehnda hi si kyunki odde behen -bhai jedey upar rehnde sann, swere jaddon onane sadde te hamla kitta te o mainu kehen lageya Gyani ji tussi bahar na jao mainu lokaan naal vartan da pata hai, main police vich rehaan te tussi pichhe rehna. Te o agge ho gaye main odey pichhe ho gaya. Uttey khalo ke kehen lageya eethe school khuleya hai Guru Teg Bahadur de naam te, bachchiyan da school hai 12 tak. Kehen lageya ki ethey 1,400 ladkiyan vichchon 1,200 ladki hindu hai, te 200 musalaman ladki hai. Te 60 teacheraan vichchon 50 teacheraan hindu ne te 10 teacheraan sikh dharma diyan ne. O samjha reha si lokaan nu par otthe samajhna kaun chanda si?
Translation: (In the morning, before the attack, at 8 am, Inspector Thakur Singh was with me. He was in our Gurudwara committee since her had retired from the police. He had come to the Gurudwara on the 31st. That night the mobs were already burning cars. In the morning when the attacks started, he (Thakur Singh) said Gyaniji don't go out. I've been in the police, stay behind me. He tried talking to the mob, told them there was a school nearby with Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in it. But nobody was ready to listen to him.)
Surinder Singh: Ek bande de haath o nalke di hatthi nahi hundi o si o odey sir ch maari hai..o otthe hi gir gaya. O thanedaar! Muh de bal gireya fer odey ton mudke uttheya nahi gaya odey baad oney mainu maareya aithey . Aithey keel jeya ghup gaya si, idhar mainu satt lagi. Mere sar di satt si te mainu wi kuch samajh nahi aa reha si fer, ossey wele o taan dig peya thalle taan fer mere maari. Par babe, ne jiddan kise nu bachana hunda hai na o aiye darwaza si peechhe. odey peechhe five kirpana paiyyan hoyeyaan si, o assi rakhiyan si bhai kise wele je lod payi saanu, main jiddan hi digeya o kirpan seedhe mere haath ch hi aa gayi, o banda dooja maaran lageya si mainu te main is tarah hi kirpan ghuma ditti..main is tarah onnu maari hai,onnu peechhe hataan layi, te fer odda muh kateya gaya. Te log fer odda, jad khoon nikaleya oddey te o rone lageya te fer o log natthe te taan main bacheya.
Translation: (It doesn’t matter how many times you hear it, the horror of what happened in Delhi - the capital of this country - and other parts of India in November 1984 never really goes away- what makes it worse is the knowledge our country's senior most politicians were seen leading the mobs - many times they were accompanied by policemen- the very people charged with upholding the law- were the people killing the future of so many. Here's Surinder Singh again.)
Surinder Singh: Police wale ne keha. SHO nahi si, SHO te thane ch band si, SHO sardar si Amarjeet singh, onu band kitta hoya si kyunki assi baad wich gaye hai na te saanu taan pata lageya. Othhe jidey aam police wale hunde ne o si.
Translation: (The policemen said the SHO was not with them. They said they had locked him up at the thana. Because the local SHO was a Sikh named Amarjeet Singh. He (Tytler) was there with the police.)
Surinder Singh also described the killing of another man that morning. A man who worked at a local television store, a revelation being made for the first time.
Surinder Singh: Badal jaddon geya na Amarjeet de ghar te Amarjeet da naukar mil geya te o vi sardar si te onu vi unaane maar ditta. Te odi laash vi Gurudware de stamen leja ke saadi. Teen matlab katal hue, Badal singh raagi da,police inspector Thankur Singh da te Amarjeet jo hai texla TV wala unaade naukar da.
Translation: (After Badal Singh hid in the TV shopowner Amarjeet's house. The mob found Amarjeet's servant. They killed him as well. The burnt him in front of the Gurudwara as well. So there were three killings, Badal Singh, Police Inspector Thakur Singh and Amarjeet's servant.)
Just days after the riots, Surinder Singh says Tytler himself came to meet him at the Gurudwara.
Surinder Singh: On November 10, Jagdish Tytler came to the Gurudwara and asked me to sign on two sheets of paper, which I refused to sign.
In fact, Singh says that in his first deposition before the Nanavati Commission he had openly declared that if he faced pressure and death threats from the Congress Party then he would turn hostile.
Surinder Singh: Nanavati naal meri gal baat hoyi te Nanavati ne mainu bulaya. Main saareyan saamne keha ki ye ye bande si par main onaanu keha main twaanu vi keh raha hun ki aaj sarkar dooji hai te main bayaan de ditta, kal nu sarkaar badal gayi main fer mukar jaana kyunki main marna nahi hai, seedhi jayi gal hai. Ye maine kaha Nanavati ko, sarakar ab fir badal gayi fir unka raaj hai.
Translation: (Judge Nanavati questioned me why didn't you speak up before, why have you spoken out after so many years. I told him that earlier it was the rule of the Congress Party how could've I said anything against them?)
CNN-IBN: Did they threaten you?
Surinder Singh: It did not happen once it has happened so many times. Had I not done that things would've got over then itself because I am his sole witness, Jasbir Singh is nobody. He's come out of I don't know where. All this happened in front of me.
By silencing the main eyewitness, Tytler effectively diluted the allegations of his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
But with a Delhi Court directing the CBI to reopen the case against him, Tytler will find it difficult to wash away the stains left behind 23 years ago.
Email to friend | Most emailed | Discuss
