AFFIDAVIT OF MR. SMITU KOTHARI, S/O SHRI
RAJNI KOTHARI AGED 35 YEARS, R/O 1, COURT ROAD, DELHI-110054.
I, Smitu Kothari, the above
named Deponent, do hereby solemnly affirm and state as under:
1.That I say that I am a
member of the Steering Committee of the Nagrik Ekta Manch.
2.On November 1, 1984 when I
got up in the morning and went outside my house (I live in the Civil Lines
area of Delhi), I saw an unbelievable sight. All around me, in any
direction that I looked, there were clouds of smoke. By 10 AM I ventured
out. The cloud of smoke nearest me was emanating from the ISBT area and
so I made my way there.
3.A mob of some forty people
were systematically setting fire to the twenty odd taxis at the taxi stand
inside ISBT. I counted twelve of them who had 5 litre canes of some
inflammable material which they were pouring into the taxis before
igniting them. I immediately rushed back home and called the Civil Lines
Police Station. I informed the Duty Officer of what I had seen and asked
if I could speak to the SHO. This was at around 10.30 AM. I was told he
was not available. On demanding to speak to some other senior official, I
was told that now that I had made a complaint, they could act and that I
should hang up. I was also told that there is a Chowki near ISBT and
surely the situation must now be under control.
4.I put down the phone
immediately. I heard explosions from the area where the taxi stand was.
Nearing the now burning row of taxis, I saw the mob standing at a
distance. Clouds of smoke and flames were everywhere. I detoured the
area and went to the ISBT chowki where, to my surprise, six constables and
one official ( I could not ascertain his rank ) were standing watching the
whole exercise as if it were a show. I demanded why they were not acting
and very rudely, I was told that it was none of my business. In fact, the
official said that Indira Gandhi had been killed and angry mobs were
taking revenge so what could he do.
5.In frustration, I went back
home and again called the Civil Lines P.S. On mentioning the experience
to the Duty Officer, I was told that “You have already told us once.
Please don’t call again and again.” I then called up some friend who by
this time, had had similar experiences (not the police inaction but the
burning of taxis and trucks and mobs out on the street). We agreed to
meet the next day to take out a peace march through the Lajpat
Nagar-Bhogal are as they felt this was the worst affected. The next day
November 2, 1984, some of us met in the morning and went around the city.
Enough has been documented about the devastation all around and I will not
go into that except to say that one sight disturbed me intensely – the
burning, deservation and setting on fire of Gurdwaras.
6.In the afternoon, about one
hundred of us – academics, social workers, journalists, lawyers and other
concerned citizens took out a peace march starting from Lajpat Bhawan
(near Vikram Hotel) through Vikram Vicar, Lajpat Nagar-IV, Lajpat Nagar
III, Jangpura, Bhogal, Ashram and via Ring Road back to Lajpat Bhawan. We
saw the Gurdwara near Amar Colony that had been burnt and vandalised. The
priest of the Gurdwara detailed how the mobs had come, how the police were
now repeatedly called with no response and how the Gurdwara was attacked
three different times on the 1st November, 1984.
7.We moved on. In Lajpat
Nagar III, we were confronted with a mob of about 200 people. Most of
them were carrying steal Trishuls, Spears, Lathis etc. They were in a
festive mood and in response to our peace slogans, started shouting
‘Indira Gandhi Ki Jai.” They also told us to turn back if we valued our
lives. They continued to threaten us but we continued to slowly move
forward.
8.When we reached the E Block
of Jangpura Extension, we saw another mob about 100 yards away. Several
shops and vehicles were burning or had been burnt. A few feet in front of
us, a police jeep was parked. A few feet in front of us, a police jeep
was parked. When we approached the officer in the jeep and asked why was
he just watching the mob and not doing anything, he replied instead that
we should disperse. We said we were moving on and he then replied that we
had been warned and that we will be doing so at our own risk.
9.From Jangpura, we moved
through the Bhogal area. The situation here was very tense. There was
fairly large concentration of Sikh contractors and transport companies
located in this area. All around us were burning buses and trucks in
various stages of destruction. Houses and shops had also been vandalised/burnt.
10.Most of us were deeply
shocked by what we had seen and felt that we must go back to mobilise some
protection for these areas. We turned towards Ashram before returning to
Lajpat Bhawan via Ring Road. On the Ashram Bridge, we saw a large number
of armed army personnel guarding the left side of the bridge. We were
told to walk on the other side. Some of us ventured nevertheless to see
that what was on the other side. I was one of them. What I saw was row
upon row of houses which had been set on fire and only empty shells
remained. Some of the houses were totally devastated.
11.On returning to Lajpat
Bhawan, we broke into groups and telephoned almost every senior citizen we
knew – senior bureaucrats, police officers, army officers, leaders of the
Congress (I) and other political parties, concerned citizens, even the
Prime Minister himself. Most people assured us that they would
immediately mobilise something. Some of us went with MP Madhu Dandavate to
the Prime Minister’s house where we met Arun Nehru who promised to get
into the wireless to the Army and call the police.
12.We did not realize until
the next day when a few of us re-visited the areas where we had gone the
previous day that in spite of this massive effort on our part, almost
nothing was done. Instead, reports started coming in that the situation
in other parts of Delhi particularly the trans-Yamaha colonies were must
worse. Some of us decided to visit Trilokpuri.
13.On our way to Trilokpuri on
the morning of November 3, 1984, we passed a police thana at the beginning
approach road to Kalyanpuri. It was here that we saw a gruesome night.
Standing outside the Thana were a truck, a matador and a van. All of them
were full of Sikh bodies piled on top of one another, some charred, some
in unnatural contorted positions. There we four other friends who were
witness to this – Mr. Alok Mukhopadhyaya, Regional Director of OXFAM, Shri
Dumanta Banerjee, a journalist, Dr.Dinesh Mohan ofIIT and Rita Manchanda,
the correspondent of “The Telegraph”.
14.We were all stunned and
shocked by what we saw and without actually checking where the bodies had
been brought from, we decided to proceed to Trilokpuri.
15.What we saw at Trilokpuri
has been adequately recorded in newspaper articles and in the statements
of the survivors.
16.The entire experience of
November 1-3, was an extremely painful and frustrating one – that in the
capital city of my country, with all the important people that we know, we
could not bring one concrete official action to stop the looting and arson
and killings for three entire days.
