Kids Corner

Images: details from photos by Ram Rahman.

1984

Only One Man Left Alive:
Rest Were the Widows of Trilokpuri 1984

RAM RAHMAN

 

 

 

An exhibition of photographs documenting the 1984 massacres of the Sikhs in Delhi has been traveling through Punjab.

Having already been displayed at other venues in Delhi, the exhibit will be up at the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara parking lot today, November 1, and tomorrow (November 2) as well.

It will be exhibited at the silent vigil at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Saturday, November 3, 2012.

The pictures shown on this page were shot in a single gulli (laneway) in Trilokpuri, right after the violence ended (I had gone with a relief team).

Only one male was left alive.

The woman in the last photo holds her husband's finger, chopped off by rioters after he was killed, to remove his gold ring.

The travelling photo exhibition documents the horrors of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms that erupted across India on November 1, 1984 and continued unabated, but abetted by politicians and the police until November 3.

The exhibition comprises 80 photographs. It is hoped that the exhibit will remind the Indian Government of its failure to punish the guilty and provide justice to the victims and survivors of the violence. Many of the politicians who had led the murderous mobs in 1984 are currently placed high in the heirarchy of the current government.

Some of the photographs show buildings set on fire at the New Delhi neighbourhoods of Connaught Place, Chandni Chowk and Trilokpuri.

One photograph shows dogs feeding on a burnt human body. In another, the windows of former President Giani Zail Singh’s car are shattered.

In a photograph shot at the INA Market, a mob is holding a Sikh man by his hair while some men are hurling stones at him. One photograph shows a mob at AIIMS crossing. Another one shot at the New Delhi Railway Station shows two bodies of Sikh men lying on a trolley-cart while people walk by staring at the corpses.

A number of affidavits submitted by widows of men murdered during the violence are also on display.

Most of the photographs on display at the exhibition were shot by Ashok Vahie and Ram Rahman.

On November 3, a public demonstration and a candlelight vigil will be held at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

Please come.

 

November 1, 2012

Conversation about this article

1: Baljit Singh Pelia (Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.), November 01, 2012, 11:17 AM.

While the souls of the victims still wait for justice and their survivors for closure, the killers still roam the godforsaken country ruled by the psychopaths. Worst of all, we are all reduced to silent spectators and sympathizers capitulating to the purveyors of these crimes. Shame on us.

2: Sukhindarpal Singh (Penang, Malaysia), November 01, 2012, 11:50 AM.

Could sikhchic.com kindly arrange to display the exhibition of the 80 photographs in cyber space to enable all near and far to experience the pictures? Thank you. Guru Rakhaa.

3: H S Vachoa (USA), November 01, 2012, 1:25 PM.

Horrible, unimaginable and an absolute face of Hindu evil.

4: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), November 01, 2012, 2:16 PM.

This was 'Blood-for-Votes' - pick on a minority - and any excuse do to instigate 'party members' to not only vote for the ruling political party but to kill for it too!

5: Kanwarjeet Singh (Franklin Park, New Jersey, USA), November 01, 2012, 2:47 PM.

Sorry to say this but I think we Sikhs, especially the ones sitting in the West, have failed our brothers and sisters in India. Shame on us - it has been three decades and all we do is post on facebook, attend vigils and move on. Remember what our father said: "When all means of achieving justice have failed, it is righteous to put your hand on the sword". If not now, then when?

6: Gurteg Singh (New York, USA), November 01, 2012, 10:26 PM.

The attack and destruction of Harmandar Sahib and the brutal massacre of tens of thousands of innocent Sikhs in New Delhi and the rest of India has totally exposed the naked face of the entire Nazi Hindu establishment.

7: Devinder Pal Singh (Delhi, India), November 02, 2012, 6:23 AM.

This is one pain that has no remedy. It's astonishing that these pictures draw no comment from the political elite, the law conveniently behaves to appease the political and communal bias. The Jews were assisted by millions of whites in seeking justice after World War II, but alas, we in India have an assassination remembered and always attended by Sikhs prominently while there is not a single visitor to the place where mass crimes against innocents carried out in the 1984 pogroms. There seems to be no law of the land which can hold any of the names accountable. 'Satyamev Jayate' remains only on the national emblem, forever drowned by the social fabric and political interests of a corrupt India.

Comment on "Only One Man Left Alive:
Rest Were the Widows of Trilokpuri 1984"









To help us distinguish between comments submitted by individuals and those automatically entered by software robots, please complete the following.

Please note: your email address will not be shown on the site, this is for contact and follow-up purposes only. All information will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Sikhchic reserves the right to edit or remove content at any time.