I, Ravi Chopra S/o B.D. Chopra, aged 38
yrs., R/o 807, Vishal Bhawan, 95, Nehru Place, New Delhi-13, do hereby
solemnly affirm and declare as under: -
1.That I say that shortly
after hearing the news of an attempt on Mrs. Gandhi’s life on October 31st,
1984, I accompanied some friends to the All India Institute of Medical
Sciences. We reached the AIIMS just after midday. There was a large crowd
of people standing outside a barrier set up by the Delhi Police on
Aurobindo Marg. We also noticed a large number of VIPs inside the hospital
complex. I was struck by the peacefulness of the crowd of common citizens
standing outside the hospital. No one seemed to know whether Mrs. Gandhi
was alive or not. I saw Mr. Darbara Singh, former Chief Minister of
Punjab, coming out of a back door in the hospital. I asked him what was
the latest news. “She is still in the operation theater. I do not know
anything more”was his response.
2.As my friends and I
prepared to leave I noticed a lady being carried out of the VIP enclosure
towards a car. She was wailing loudly. This was the only emotional scene
that I witnessed outside the AIIMS complex on the afternoon of October 31st.
3.My friends and I decided to
go towards Connaught Place
to visit some newspaper officers and obtain the latest information. On the
way we noticed that people were going about their daily routines in a most
normal fashion. There were policemen along the roads. There was no sign
that anything unusual had happened.
4.The scene changed as we
reached the Connaught Place are around 1:30 pm.
The road outside the Statesman building was full of people. At the
Statesman newsroom I learnt that Mrs. Gandhi was dead. I was also told
that two assailants were Sikhs. On the way back we noticed that the
Hindustan Times had put out a headline on the spot news bulletin board
saying “Mrs. Gandhi Is Dead”. Despite the large numbers of people gathered
outside the Hindustan Times building, there was no obvious sign of tension
or apprehension. There were both Sikhs and Non-Sikhs in the crowd.
5.I decided to stay back and
visit some friends in the area that afternoon. Around 6 O’clock I received
news at a relative’s home that rioting had broken out in South Delhi near
the AIIMS. Since I was temporarily residing in South Delhi, I decided to
call a friend in that area before returning home that evening. I contacted
a friend in Green Park who told me that there was massive
rioting taking place on Aurobindo Marg. On the way from the AIIMS to her
house at the edge of Hauz Khas, she said that buses were being stopped,
Sikhs were being pulled out and beaten up. Mobs were also roaming with
torches aflame in their hands. I, therefore, decided not to return to my
residence in South Delhi, that night.
6.On 1st
November,1984, I woke up early in the morning and boarded a bus from Super
Bazar to Malviya Nagar. At that time, around 8 am
that place was quite and peaceful. As the bus passed by South Extn.
I saw the burnt out shells of some shops, DTC buses and private vehicles.
Despite these signs of arson, I did not spot any police personnel on the
route. I reached Press Enclave without any other unusual events.
7.At Press Enclave, a friend
was leaving for Palam Airport to take a place to Bombay. He was
being dissuaded by other friends from attempting the trip. About an hour
later this friend returned and announced that the road to the airport had
become a danger zone. A petrol pump near Vasant Vihar had been set on
fire. Cars were being stopped on the road to check for Sikh passengers.
There was no police force outside. After hearing his account I came out on
the road and saw a ring of black smoke all around the horizon, from the
West to the East directions.
8.By this time some friends
had gathered together at Press Enclave to share news of rioting and
disturbances in different parts of the city. I was asked to join this
meeting. At the meeting we decided to try and do something to reverse the
tide of violence. We then left as a group to try and rally other friends
and acquaintances.
9.As our vehicle sped from
Press Enclave to Khan Market, we saw signs of arson and looting and the
total absence of police on the roads.
10.We met a few friends and
decided to assemble at Lajpat Bhawan around 4:30 pm to finalise a course
of action. On the way back from the Connaught Place area as we neared the
Moolchand flyover, we saw a shop being looted at the edge of Central
Market in Lajpat Nagar. As soon as our jeep stopped and we got off the
vehicle (six of us), the mob of looters started to run helter skelter.
Thee could not have been more than 20 of them, many of them appeared to be
in their bottles and were quite drunk. They had broken into a shop and
were in the process of collecting scraps of wood ---- perhaps to set fire
to it. A crowd of about 100 people, mostly men, was standing around and
watching.
11.One of us, Swami Agnivesh,
started to ask these people why they were standing around watching people
destroy someone’s shop. Some of the by-standers volunteered that the
urchins were outsiders who had never been seen earlier in that locality.
Agnivesh then got up on a makeshift platform and started an impassioned
speech appealing to the good sense of the residence of that area. As he
was speaking, the looters mob reassembled and came back. They started to
hackle Swami Agnivesh. As their tone grew more menacing, the residents of
that area decided to stem the outbreak of further violence. Some of them
armed with lathis dispersed the mob of looters. They then told us that
they were going to form a citizens defence committee to ensure that no
outsiders came into that areas to upset the peace. We were also told that
passions were bound to rise because of news of mass scale killings in
Punjab. When we asked for details of these reports, they could not be
substantiated. We asked the people to be extremely careful before
believing rumours and then left for our meeting at Lajpat Bhawan.
12.After 5 pm about 25 friends
took out a peace march, moving from Lajpat Bhawan through Amar Colony to
Central Market in Lajpat Nagar. On the way to the Amar Colony Gurdwara,
pedestrian stared at us in disbelief for preaching peace. A part of the
Amar Colony Gurdwara was still aflame, though most of the fire had been
put out. Various people in the vicinity told us that Sikhs had repulsed
two attacks on the Gurdwara. A third mob of about 400 looters finally
over-come the defenders. The police and fire brigade, who had been
repeatedly contacted did not respond to the appeals for assistance. At
this stage some of the by-standers including some Sikh youths joined the
peace march as it headed towards Central Market.
13.The scene at Central Market
was one of the total mayhem. There were broken carts, doors and glass
strewn on the streets. The main road seemed to have been taken over by a
swirling bunch of vigilance. Many of them were armed with lathis. I also
spotted some people brandishing swords and a couple of trishuls.
14.On reaching the main road
of the Central Market, Swami Agnivesh decided to speak to the crowds. He
asked the people to realise the gravity of the situation – it was not just
a destruction of property that was taking place, but a destruction of the
nation. At first many people were intrigued by the sight of the saffron
robed Swami. But within minutes the mood become very menacing. Angry
shopkeepers berated the Swami for talking about peace when Sikhs had
killed the Prime Minister. Pretty soon we were dispersed into groups of
two or three peace marchers surrounded by hostile mobs. As the arguments
between the peace marchers and the crowds became more heated, some of us
decided that it was time to regroup and leave. With great difficulty we
extricated out friends and walked back towards Lajpat Bhawan. Even as we
started to walk back, dozens of armed men continued to argue with us
demanding that we accompany them to Bhogal where Sikhs in a Gurdwara were
firing at Non-Sikhs.
15.On the way back to Lajpat
Bhawan we ran into a jeep of uniformed men. It was a military patrol that
had been sent to the Defence Colony P.S. to report for duty, but had lost
its way. This was my first sight of any law enforcement personnel on that
day. The captain of the patrol asked me for directions. While giving his
the directions, I told him to take a tour of the troubled Bhogal area. By
now it was 7 pm a curfew would be imposed after 8 pm. So we dispersed
quickly after a short meeting at Lajpat Bhawan. At this meeting it was
decided to sponsor an open peace march, inviting all political parties,
through Lajpat Nagar, Bhogal and Ashram. Before retiring that night some
of us went to different political leaders informing them of the proposed
peace march and inviting them to join it. On the way back home, we noticed
that even at that late stage, there were no policemen even at their usual
posts, e.g. the I.I.T. gate crossing. That was to remain my dominant
impression of the role of the police – their total absence from the city
streets.
16.On 2nd November
1984, around 9 O’clock in the morning, some friends and I decided to visit
the area through, which the peace march would move later in the afternoon.
At the Ring Road bridge, south of the Nizamuddin Station, we saw small
crowds of people staring at the tracks. I got down from our jeep and saw
three dead bodies on the tracks. The three persons had been dead for
sometime. Vultures had begun to peek at the bodies. I confirmed with the
bystanders that the bodies were of Sikh men.
17.As we neared the Ashram
Bridge we saw small groups of hooligans running around with lathis and
sticks in their hands. There were some policemen around. On the opposite
side of the road a carload of foreign TV cameramen came by. It was
immediately surrounded by the hooligans who threatened to overturn the car
and smash their equipment if they filmed any scenes at the spot. Two of my
colleagues went across the road and managed to get the carload of people
out of harm’s way. When our vehicle reached the top of the bridge going
towards Bhogal, we stopped to take a look on the Ashram side of the road.
This is a poor section of the city with a lot of closely-packed tenements
and narrow lanes. The walls of many houses were charred. Looking over from
the bridge we could see abandoned thalis of food indicating that some
people had fled in a hurry. A Sikh gentleman standing on a roof-top far
away signaleed to us with his hands implying that it was all over (for
them). I also spotted a military patrol carrying out a house-to-house
search but before we could ask any questions the policemen on the road
insisted that we get back into our jeep and leave the area.
18.We drove a little further
and entered a lane in Bhogal. We could not proceed far into the lane. The
charred body of a truck had been laid down across the lane as a barrier. A
unit of the Indi-Tibetan Border force told us that they had blocked
various lanes to check the movement of people in that are. We talked to
some residents of the area. They told us that there had been heavy
fighting, with Sikhs controlling one part of the locality and Non-Sikhs
another part.
19.By 1 pm almost 125 people
had gathered at Lajpat Bhawan to take out the peace rally. The marchers
were joined by various members of the National Executive Committee of the
Janata Party. The march proceeded peacefully till it reached the Central
Market area. Here we were surrounded by a hostile mob of local youths many
of them armed with lathis, swords and trishuls. They started to shout
angry slogans at us. And the atmosphere soon become quite ugly. At this
stage some senior local residents having spotted well-known personalities
amongst us, intervened and allowed us to proceed.
20.Similar encounters were
repeated at various stages during the rest of the march. At the Krishan
Nagar Gurdwara we were surrounded by a huge mob, dancing threateningly
with weapons in their hands and blocking the roads. Many of them shouted
abusive slogans at us. Fortunately a flag march being conducted by some
military units passed by at that moment. The hostile crowd quickly
disappeared into the by lanes. Before they could regroup, sympathetic
local residents had intervened to ensure our safety. Little further down
the road, however, a police patrol stopped us and asked us to disperse
since there was a curfew on. We politely refused to do so. Seeing eminent
political figures in our midst the police officer did not press this
point. Later we were beset by another man shouting Pro-Congress (I)
slogans. I apprehended a young man carrying a couple of rocks in his hands
walking on the opposite side of the road as we crossed the Ashram Bridge.
The peace march returned, without any further incident, to Lajpat Bhawan.
