I, Madhu Kishwar D/o Sh. K.L.Kishwar aged 49 yrs. residing at  C-174 Lajpat Nagar I, New Delhi 110024, do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:-

 

1.      That I have been living in Delhi since my birth in 1951.

2.      That I am a college teacher by profession, in addition to being the editor of an internationally acclaimed magazine titled, "MANUSHI" which I founded in 1978. The mandate of this journal is to focus on women's rights, human rights and social justice issues.

3.      That I am a member of the Editors Guild of India and a recipient of several awards for journalism, even though I do not earn my living from journalism. My work with Manushi can best be described as "labour of love."

4.      That due to the vast national and international reach of Manushi, I have travelled extensively, both within India and abroad, to lecture at universities, as well as at events organized by a variety of social and cultural organizations..

5.      That in Oct./Nov.`84, when a politically engineered massacre of the Sikhs was carried out in Delhi and several other parts of the country, during which their properties worth thousands of crores were systematically looted and burnt, I was in Delhi. Along with some Manushi colleagues, I visited some of the worst affected areas, saw the carnage at first hand, photographed the destruction and tape recorded several first hand accounts of atrocities committed on the Sikh community.  I also personally witnessed some parts of the carnage, and even tried unsuccessfully to stop the mobsters from burning the local gurudwara in the Lajpat Nagar area of Delhi where I reside. In addition, I was an active member of the Mohalla Defence Committee of C- Block which was constituted during those days to prevent the rioters from causing harm in our neighbourhood. In addition, I visited Trilokpuri where the worst carnage took place, Kalyanpuri, Mangolpuri, Palam Village, Relief Camps, police stations and several other middle class localities to collect a comprehensive account of what happened during those days of national shame.

6.      That during that period, I personally interviewed several men and women who were subjected to heinous crimes, including gang rapes. I personally recorded their statements and interviews and published them in Manushi (See Issue No 25, Nov-Dec 1984). That special issue of Manushi carried the picture of Gurdip Kaur on its cover page. I quote some extracts from her story, which  provide a small glimpse of those traumatic days:

“ Gurdip Kaur a 45 year old woman from block 32, Trilokpuri, told a typical story.  Her husband and three sons were brutally murdered in front of her.  Her husband used to run a small shop in the locality.  Her eldest son, Bhajan Singh, worked in the railway station, the second in a radio repair shop and the third as a scooter driver.  She says: “On the morning of November 1, when Indira Mata’s body was brought to Teen Murti, everyone was watching television.  Since 8 A.M. they were showing the homage being paid to her dead body.  At about noon, my children said : ‘Mother, please make some food.  We are hungry.’  I had not cooked that day and I told them : ‘Son, everyone is mourning.  She was our mother, too.  She helped us to settle here.  So I don’t feel like lighting the fire today.  Soon after this, the attack started.  Three of the men ran out and were set on fire.  My youngest son stayed in the house with me.  He shaved off his beard and cut his hair.  But they came into the house.  Those young boys, 14 and 16 yrs. olds, began to drag my son out even though he was hiding behind me.  They tore my clothes and stripped me naked in front of my son.  When these young boys began to cry and said : ‘Elder brothers, don’t do this.  She is like your mother just as she is my mother.’  But they raped me right there, in front of my son, in my own house.  They were young boys, may be eight of them.  When one of them raped me, I said : ‘My child, never mind.  Do what you like.  But remember, I have given birth to children.  This child came into the world by this same path.’

“After they had taken my honour, they left.  I took my son out with me and made him sit among the women but they came and dragged him away.  They took him to the street corner, hit him with lathis, sprinkled kerosene over him, and burnt him alive.  I tried to save him but they struck me with knives and broke my arm.  At that time, I was completely naked.  I had managed to get hold of an old sheet which I had wrapped around myself.  If I had even one piece of clothing on my body, I would have gone and thrown myself over my son and tried to save him.  I would have done anything to save at least one young man of my family.  Not one of the four is left.”

7.      That the numerous victims I interviewed gave graphic accounts of the atrocities committed on their husbands, their young sons and brothers, which they were compelled to witness before being sexually assaulted in full public view.  Most of them saw their loved ones attacked, grievously wounded, and burnt whilst still alive.  In some cases, their men folk were roasted alive, with burning tyres  put around their necks by the miscreants.

8.      That it was reported to me by the victims and survivors of the carnage that the police authorities did not record their complaints.  For example, the police did not record the names of the political big wigs and known prominent accused by blatantly refusing to register FIRs in accordance with law. Even in my own neighbourhood, I saw the police look away indifferently while gangsters went on a looting and burning spree.

9.      That it was clear from the behaviour of the rampaging mobs, that they were not acting out of grief or anguish at the death of Smt. Indira Gandhi, the P.M. of India. They were laughing away and enjoying their looting and burning spree. They jeered, abused and made all kinds of obscene gestures while they went on a rampage. Watching them, one saw no evidence or sign of any sadness or grief whatsoever.

10. That based on these first hand personal experiences I had written a detailed article Gangster Rule: The Massacre of the Sikhs – in the Nov-December`84, issue of MANUSHI – (annexed as ANNEXURE ‘A’).

11. That it was the opinion of a vast number of victims and investigative reporters with whom I interacted, that high officials of the Congress (I) had masterminded the massacre with the help of anti social elements and the police. These patronised goondas were required  to carry out a well- planned pogrom. These truck loads of hoodlums, which were earlier being routinely mobilized by the Congress (I) for their political rallies and processions, were now put together with the same ease for organized violence murder and rape against a peaceful section of our civil population.

12. That I, alongwith Ruth Vanita and Rakesh Bhardwaj, lecturers in three different Delhi University colleges, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court which was also published in Manushi under the title, Organized Riots Against the Sikhs : A Violation of Fundamental Rights. 

 

Our petition made the following prayer: “ In this unprecedented situation, we appeal to the supreme court to use its authority to order a full enquiry into this heinous crime, to determine which of the governmental bodies have acted unconstitutionally, and to what extent, or have not acted where under law they were duty bound to act, which extra governmental organizations have conspired to violate the constitutional rights of the citizens and to attack a minority community, and which individuals in positions of trust and authority, in the State, violated their oaths of office to plan and help execute a campaign of terror, looting, murder and rape against a whole community of Indian citizens.

We realize that in other circumstances the regular law enforcement machinery of the State would have the responsibility to implement the enquiry within the normal framework of the laws, legislative and administrative machinery of the State.  However, since key functionaries of that very State and its machinery are co-conspirators in the violation of the Constitutional rights of the citizens and have also carried out a massive attempt at cover up of their own culpability,  we have no option but to approach this, the highest court in the land.  This honorable court has both the Constitutional prerogative and the authority to search out the truth and to return the country to Constitutional rule, to remove violators of the Constitution from positions of power, to require that the guilty are brought to justice and made to pay damages, to ensure that the devastated minority receives some measure of appropriate reparation.” (Copy annexed as ANNEXURE ‘B’.)

13. That in Issue No 26 (Jan-Feb. 1985 of MANUSHI) I had published reports by volunteers of Nagrik Ekta Manch who had worked in various refugee camps set up for the victims of the massacre, especially women and children. (Photocopy attached as ANNEXURE ‘B’).  One of the volunteers was Lalita Ramdas wife of Admiral Ramdas, a former Chief of Naval Staff. In addition, I and Ruth Vanita also wrote a special report on how the Congress (I) had skillfully used the 1984 massacre and Indira Gandhi's assasination to consolidate the Hindu vote in the most vicious electoral campaign this country had witnessed. I will submit photocopies of the specially devised anti-Sikh ad campaign for this purpose.

14. That in March-April `87, issue of MANUSHI, under the heading – Changing the Rules of the Political Game, I had published a detailed and graphic account of a meeting organized by Manushi in which Sant Longowal, a widely respected Akali leader, came to pay homage to Sh. Prabhu Dayal, who had lost his life in trying to save three Sikh women during the Oct.-Nov.`84 massacre. This article describes the obstructions and hurdles put in our way by the local leaders of the Congress party with a view to sabotaging our meeting organised with a view to re-establish communal amity in our neighbourhood.  (annexed as  ANNEXURE ‘C’).  Sant Longowal had travelled from his village to Delhi especially for this meeting to publicly honour the sacrifice of Sh. Prabhu Dayal and to offer his condolence to his widow, Smt. Atam Devi, for the supreme act of courage and compassion performed by her husband at the cost of his own life. And yet, we were threatened and blackmailed for days on end to cancel this meeting under the pretext that it could provoke riots all over again.

15. That during the last 16 years, some of the cases have been tried by courts. A large number of the culprits have been let off due to complicity and willful lapses on the part of the police and investigating agencies.  The courts have passed strictures on the police for shoddy investigations in these cases of heinous crimes and mass murders. Such a large number of  FIRs, covering the murder of 2733 people according to government's own figure, could not be faulty except if the investigating agencies and police officials proved incompetent and dishonest in the performance of their duty. Like many others, I am convinced that the police and investigating agencies were under orders from high-ups to block all avenues of justice for the victims