1.
That I am a Chartered
Accountant and have been in practice since 1971 in New Delhi.
2.
That I reside with my
family at D-984, New Friends Colony, New Delhi, since 1978.
3.
That my residence is
situated on the main road which links Ring Road with the Surya Hotel –
Okhla main road and that my house is approx. one kilometer from the Ring
Road on the Western side of the main road.
4.
That there have been
several establishments of Sikhs close of my, all are scrambled in a rough
map drawn and attached to this affidavit as Annexure – A.
5.
That on the first of
November, 1984, I was sitting in the drawing room of my house with my
brother and two clients when around 9:30 am, there was a sudden commotion
and noise from the main road. We rushed out of the house and saw a huge
milling crowd on the road extending right beyond Bharat Nagar village on
the southern side of the road and beyond Timur
6.
The crowd nearer to the dry
cleaners and Ishwar Sweets shop was trying to attack the said shop with
brickbats. On the terrace of Ishwar Sweets, about 6/7 Sikhs and one
non-Sikh were brick batting the group to defend their shops.
7.
I saw one policeman in
uniform on the road in front of my house. He shouted as if he was urging
the crowd to disperse but no one appeared to be interested in listening to
him and after some time he went away. I also saw another policeman who
was on the road, South of Ishwar Sweets, and was throwing stones alongwith
the crowd at the Sikh Shops.
8.
After nearly an hour around 10.30 PM,
the crowd surged forward and started to break open the steel rolling
shutters of the shops with crow bars and hammers. The shops were set on
fire and the goods were thrown on the street or otherwise destroyed. I
did not see any looting of the shops at this stage but only destruction
including the clothes in the dry cleaners shop.
9.
While the breaking in of
the shops was going on, some persons in the crowd had attacked and
destroyed the taxi stand next to the local shopping centre. Some taxies
parked behind the multi-storeyed building had also been set on fire by
this time. Several vehicles, trucks, vans and motor cars had also been
set on fire by the mob on the main road as well as behind the multi-storeyed
building. The mob also clambered over the walls of the Gurdwara and set
it on fire. The bungalow of a sikh in Timur Nagar was also burnt by the
mob. By this time it was nearly 1.00 PM and the sky was overcast with
smoke from the burning matters and flak and ashes were falling over the
road and on the terrace of our house.
10.
Between 1.00 PM to 3.00 PM
the crowd perceptibly thinned down. Around 3 PM I saw some people
carrying cans. Several people had now invaded the residential house of a
Sikh behind the local shopping centre. They pushed out two cars from the
drive way of the bungalow and parked them near the parking lot of the
shopping centre. They took nearly fifteen minutes to collect material to
place underneath the vehicles to which they added some kind of fluid from
the cans and set the cars on fire. While this was going on dozens of
people had started to loot and plunder the house. I saw a large number of
people going in and coming out of the house carrying household goods like
clothes, toys, mattresses, radios, two in ones etc. No one appeared to be
interested nor any attempt was made to snatch anything from anyone. I saw
a person who appeared to be a labourer, walk across the road from the
house with a large two-in-one, radio-cum-stereo, hand over the same to
another person and go back for more loot. Around 4 PM the house was set on
fire. I could see smoke rising from the other areas of the colony also
from my terrace.
11.
During this time the crowd
had also started breaking open the steel shutter of the Sikh electrician
shop and the goods lying inside the same were looted and carried away by
the crowd and the shop itself was damaged.
12.
I had tried to telephone
the Fire Brigade and the police during the day but their telephones were
continuously not available.
13.
By around 4.30 PM to 5.00
PM most of the crowd had melted away.
14.
Around 3.30 PM I had heard
the siren of a police jeep and saw the same with some police personnel
pass in front of my house and round the back of the local shopping centre
without halting with the siren blowing all the time. The siren of the
jeep had created an immediate impact as most of the looters could be seen
trying to run away. But the police jeep passed away quite fast and the
crowd assembled and started looting again.
15.
I had not seen any weapons
with the crowd like guns or swords but a few people were carrying iron
rods, crow bars and iron “sariyas”. I saw some people breaking boundary
walls to collect bricks and attack the shops with the same in the
morning. However, after 3 PM I had seen groups of people carrying fluids
in cans which they were using to burn vehicles and houses.
16.
Most of the residents of
the bungalows of the colony had come out from time to time during the day
but had not stayed on the road for long. Being on the main road, I could
witness the happenings from the terrace of my house or from the road where
I was going out from time to time during the day.
17.
In the evening a false
rumour was spread in the colony that the Sikhs had collected in a Gurdwara
on Ring Road and were arming themselves with the intention to attack the
houses of Hindus in our colony. As my children were already soared and
had been crying after seeing the looting and burning we decided to move to
a safer place outside the colony as children were feeling very depressed
at these sights.
18.
Next day when I visited my
Uncle Capt. G.S. Singh’s house on the back of our house, he told me that
he had given shelter to some Sikhs who were in hiding in the garage of a
his house. My uncle is a Sikh. He told me that several Sikhs were hiding
in the houses in the neighbourhood including in the houses of the Hindus.
The houses of several Sikhs on the back of our home were not attacked as
the mob had concentrated on burning and looting in the area of the colony
opposite our house and had not gone to the back of our house.
19.
The mob made no attempt to
attack our house or the houses or shops of other non-Sikhs in the area
near my house.
20.
No slogans of any nature
were used by the mobs seen by me at any stage during the day. Individuals
were, however, hurling stones at the Sikhs on top of Ishwar Sweet Shop.
21.
Other than the two
policemen referred to above and the sortie of the police jeep I did not
see any police or fire brigade persons throughout the day.
