Trouble mounts for Kamal Nath in 1984 anti-Silk riots

The Union home ministry has forwarded a communication to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) seeking to record the statements of eyewitnesses who claim to have seen Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath allegedly leading a mob during the 1984 mass killing of Sikhs.

The SIT, which was formed in 2015 by the NDA government, is empowered to examine fresh evidence in the 1984 massacre cases, which were earlier closed.

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that the SIT has called the DSGMC to submit the names of witnesses and other evidence.

SAD leader Sukhbir Badal has asked Sirsa to request the SIT to record the statements of noted journalist Sanjay Suri and Muktiar Singh, who had already disclosed Nath’s role in leading murderous mobs in 1984.

Badal also disclosed that the Union ministry had decided to consider the case for grant of compensation for all 365 Sikhs who were picked up from Sri Darbar Sahib during Operation Bluestar and then interred in the Jodhpur jail.

Only 40 detainees have been awarded punishment.

The SAD president also said that the Union government has decided to consider the case for grant of minority status to Sikhs who have been displaced from Jammu and Kashmir during the period of turmoil in the state.

He said that the ministry has asked the J&K government for details.

Sirsa claimed that the home ministry would also file a review petition in the case of ten people, who had been acquitted with regard to the 1984 massacre.

He said that the ministry had assured to consider other demands submitted to it including the formation of a special court for the day-to-day trial of all the cases of the 1984 genocide.

The DSGMC president said that the SAD had also urged the home ministry to grant clemency to Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana by commuting his sentence to life imprisonment, formation of a time-bound committee for release of “Bandi Singhs” (Sikh political prisoners) and award of compensation to Sikh “Dharmi Fauji,” who resigned from the forces in protest against Operation Blue Star.