AFFIDAVIT OF DINESH MOHAN S/O BATISH MOHAN, AGED 40
YEARS R/O B-57, PANCHSHILA PARK, NEW DELHI.
I, the above named deponent do hereby solemnly affirm and state as
under:
1.On 31st of October, 1984, I was
driving past, All India Institute of Medical Science on the Ring Road,
around 4.30 PM.As I approached the AIIMS gate I saw a big crowd on the road itself
and some smoke rising from beyond the crowd.I stopped my car and got down to have a look.There were two pieces of cloth lying on the road and burning. Theonlookers informed me they were Sikh turbans.At that time a Sikh on a scooter happened to pass by and a
few young men stopped him and started abusing him and hitting him.Most of the onlookers just stood by including the uniformed police
who made no efforts to stop the violence.At that time people in the crowd advised me to go away if I did not
want my car damaged.So I
turned the car around and drove away.
2.At about 10:30 at night on the 31st
of October 1984, I was at home (E-57, Panchshile Park) when I heard some
noise outside. I went out and sw about 20 – 30 young men, many in kurta –payjama,
carrying lathis and cans enquiring whether any Sikh lived in the
neighbourhood. So, I ran back inside and phoned the Hauz Khas P.S. and the
Malviya Nagar P.S. to report that there were undesirable characters
outside and there might be trouble. In both cases the person answering the
phone did not even ask for my address. I had to insist myself that they
take it down. When I came out of the house again, I noticed that these
people had set fire to my taxis at the stand outside on the outer ring
road and were strolling back from our lane into the Parkon the North side
of the lane.
3.On the morning of the 1st November
1984, I went to Safdarjang Development Area and saw many houses which had
been looted / burnt and about 10:30 / 11 am. There were not many police in
sight. At about 3 pm the same day I saw shops and taxis being burnt in
Connaught Place. Though tere were many armed policemen around they did not
seem to be concerned in controlling the crowds.
4.On the morning of 2nd November 1984,
I went to New Delhi Railway Station to pick up my father and then through
Sadar to Tees Hazari Area at about 11 am. There were groups of men with
lathis and iron rods moving around but the armed uniformed police were
doing nothing to disperse them. Between 3 pm and 6 pm, on 2nd
November I joined a group of citizens who took out a peace march in the
Lajpat Nagar, Bhogal, Ashram areas. While we were in Lajpat Nagar we came
across many groups of young men carrying iron rods, lathis and trishuls.
Though the army / police was present and section 144 in force nothing was
being done to arrest these hoodlums or make them go home (photographs
attached). These photos were taken by me and the negatives are in my
possession.
5.We were so shaken by the extent of violence
against the Sikhs and their property that after returning from the peace
march mentioned above, a volunteer relief group was organized which
called. Itself the Nagrik Ekta Manch. A part of the Manch I worked in
providing relief the victims of the violence. This work started on the
morning of November 3rd and still continues. For the first few
days it was very clear to us that the authorities were being quite callous
in the victims camps and the quality and quantity of official relief was
abysmal. On the morning of the 4th November 1984 a plain
clothes police officer at the Punjabi Bagh Police Station even asked me
why I had come to help these Sikhs. So most of the relief effort had to be
carried out under very adverse conditions. Most of this work has been well
documented in the reports of Nagrik Ekta Manch.