1984

1984 & I:
Tampering With Witnesses

by AJMER SINGH & ETMAD A. KHAN

 

 

This year, 2009, marks the 25th Anniversary of 1984, when horrendous crimes were committed against the Sikhs in the very land of their origin. To commemorate this sad milestone, we at sikhchic.com have asked our regular columnists, as well as our contributors and readers, to share with us the impact 1984 has had on their lives. We have also sought out personal stories and anecdotes, in an attempt to capture the inner thoughts and deepest ruminations of those touched in any way by the events of that fateful year, on what 1984 means to each one of them and their loved ones - without going into a litany of facts and figures or a listing of the injustices to date, all of which will invariably be covered with due diligence elsewhere. We intend to present these personal perspectives to you throughout the twelve months of 2009. The following is the 41st in the series entitled "1984 & I".      

 

 

Many witnesses turned hostile one after the other, but Darshan Kaur who lost 12 members of her family, including her husband, refused to fall for the lure of money or surrender to the fear of death.

In a chilling statement, she tells how she had been offered Rs 25 lakh ($ US 50,000.00 approx.) to withdraw her testimony against Congress leader H.K.L. Bhagat.

She was offered the money by local Sikh leader, Atma Singh Lubhana, a man who had actually been authorized by the Shaheedgunj Gurdwara Committee to help the Tilak Vihar widows with their court cases. Tilak Vihar in West Delhi is one of the largest colonies that houses the victims of Carnage 1984.

Darshan moved from East Delhi's Trilokpuri to Raghubir Nagar, Tilak Vihar where she lives under round-the-clock police protection.

Excerpts from the conversation:

During the trials many witnesses were threatened and some turned hostile after accepting money. Could you tell us about your case? We are told that Atma Singh Lubhana offered you money to change your testimony?

At that time we used to live in Trilokpuri and H.K.L. Bhagat was the local Member of Parliament. I was a witness against him. We had no educated people guiding us about court appearances and no menfolk were spared during the riots.

Lubhana appeared on the scene after the riots. None of his family members were killed during the riots. This man used to cycle around then and he now moves in cars whereas we don't even have a bicycle. Since there were no educated people among us, it was decided in the Shaheedgunj Gurdwara to hand over all these representations to him. Lubhana would accompany all the widows to the Karkardooma courts.

When H.K.L. Bhagat came to know of this, he decided to strike a deal with him. Lubhana was instructed to offer money to widows to change their statements. Some of them did but I don't want to name any of them.

Please give us the details, be frank.

Some widows accepted the money and turned hostile. I neither accepted money nor changed my statement. I lost 12 of my family members and asked them to bring back at least one. I rejected Lubhana's offer and then started the process of threats. He attacked me also. Bhagat also engineered attacks against me.

Was the attack at the instance of Bhagat?

Once on my way back, when I had no security, five-six people in a Maruti car waylaid me. They first made enquiries about some address and then tried pulling me inside the car. I started crying and tried to save myself by slapping them and hitting them with my chappals. A traffic constable and some other people came to my rescue and they fled away. After some time, police protection was given to me. This protection is with me for the last 12 years.

Did Atma Singh Lubhana offer you money?

Lubhana had offered me Rs 25 lakh to change my testimony.

He asked me to accept the money and withdraw the case against Bhagat. He said, with this money your generations will live comfortably so why take such trouble. On my refusal, he started abusing me and physically attacked me.

Why did Atma Singh Lubhana beat you up?

He wanted me to accept the money and withdraw from the case. He did not want me to appear as a witness against H.K.L. Bhagat.

That means he asked you to accept Rs 25 lakh and not appear against H.K.L. Bhagat?

Yes, he asked me not to appear as a witness against H.K.L. Bhagat. He said, take Rs 25 lakh and your children and grandchildren will live comfortably. And if you don't, then you will keep running around. He said, either he (Bhagat) or I will kill you. These threats continued and I challenged him to touch me. I am not afraid. I will not retract from my testimony. I told Lubhana to bring back at least one member of my family. Twelve of my family members were killed. Provoked by this, he attacked me.

Is Lubhana still threatening you?

Yes, even now, he is after my life, he threatened me over the phone. He said he would burn me alive. I told him that I am not afraid of any threats. I challenged him to touch me. He put the phone down and then some women called up and issued threats.

Who were these women?

I don't know the names of those women who threatened me but I informed the police authorities.

We are told that he gave money to other witnesses also?

He had sold off Anwar Kaur who had initially testified against Sajjan Kumar. When Sajjan Kumar won the election he had gone to congratulate him. Many other Sikhs had accompanied him.

How do you know that Anwar had taken money through Lubhana?

We had invited Anwar Kaur to join our group of widows and then she narrated it to us. After Sajjan Kumar was acquitted, we took out protest processions and then went to the gurdwara where we called Anwar. We asked her why she had turned hostile when we could have got justice for so many of our brothers who had been murdered. We asked her who had incited her and then she told us that it was Atma Singh Lubhana who did all this.

What did she tell you?

She stated that Lubhana had taken her to Sajjan Kumar's residence. She did not tell us about the money she got but she said Lubhana had struck the deal. She said she got scared and changed her statement.

Can you tell us when exactly she confessed to you and the others?

This was four-five years ago, when Sajjan Kumar was acquitted. It is then that all the widows confronted Anwar Kaur. She sought forgiveness .

In the case of another widow, Satnami Bai, Lubhana signed in a register when a panchayat was organised and admitted that he was instrumental in Satnami turning hostile. He was asked to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh ($ US 10,000.00 approx.) for working against the Sikh Panth, which he did.

Justice Nanavati has let off Bhagat on humanitarian grounds as he is bedridden. What do you have to say on this?

H.K.L. Bhagat should be hanged, even if he is sick. He deserves no mercy as he is a murderer. I had seen him leading the mobs saying, ‘Kill all the Sardars, they are snakes'.

　

[This article first appeared in ‘Tehelka' in its October 8, 2005 issue. H.K.L. Bhagat has since died, without ever having been tried in a Court for the mass murders he instigated.]

September 2, 2009

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