Sikhs follow case of genocide MP finally on trial

Sikhs across the world are following the ongoing trial of infamous perpetrator of the 1984 Sikh genocide, Indian politician Jagdish Tytler.

The politician who was seen leading a mob to burn Sikhs alive in Delhi in 1984 finally saw a legal case stick against him this June, when an Indian court approved a supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) against him for his role in the genocide and transferred the case to a special MP-MLA court for trial.

The Court was supposed to hear the case against him on the 29^th August, but instead the CBI filed a reply on Tytler’s plea to seek court documents from 1984 to 2023 which were supplied to Tytler’s council. The hearing has therefore been adjourned to the 6^th September in order to give his defence time to go through these documents.

According to the CBI’s charge sheet, Tytler is going to court specifically for inciting, instigating and provoking a mob that had assembled outside Gurdwara Pul Bangash, which resulted in the Gurdwara being burnt down and three Singhs (practicing Sikh men) being killed.

This occurred on the 1^st of November 1984 as part of the main incident of the Sikh Genocide where, Sikhs were tortured and killed due to state-sponsored violent mobs. Read more on the Sikh Genocide at SikhPA.com/SikhGenocide84.com.

Witnesses state that in Pal Bangash the mob were carrying petrol canisters, sticks, swords, and rods, and Tytler, then a Member of Parliament for the Congress Party, was instigating “the mob to first kill Sikhs and then engage in looting”. He also told the mob to “kill the Sikhs… they have killed our mother”, referring to the assassination of Prime Minister Indra Gandhi.

Whilst Tytler still maintains that there is not even a “single evidence” against him, he was caught on camera in 2018 admitting to his role in the 1984 Sikh genocide. See that video at- https://www.sikhpa.com/indian-politician-caught-on-camera-confessing-to-role-in-sikh-genocide/).

The Justice Nanavati Commission of Inquiry was set up in 2000 by the Indian Government to inquire into the incidents of 1984, though very few convictions have come from it. The CBI registered this case against Tytler in November 2005, and the chargesheet was only recently formally filed against him in May 2023, highlighting the designed flaws of India’s judicial system which allows its elite to flout basic laws.

Even after his evident confession and all of the evidence from eyewitnesses, it has taken 39 years for Tytler’s case to go to court, leaving Sikhs feeling as though the Indian authorities are not concerned with justice.

There is a common feeling in Sikh circles that the recent progress in the case against Tytler is all for optics, an example of the Indian state attempting to show Sikhs that they care about justice. However, taking only a few perpetrators to court does not signify the Indian government properly taking accountability for the events in 1984 where there is much evidence that the violence was state-sponsored and many politicians were rewarded for taking part.