CHANDIGARH: Twenty-seven years since Indira Gandhi was assassinated, 27 years since 2,700 Sikhs were killed in the capital in the terrible aftermath. As a host of VIPs headed towards the late prime minister's memorial on Monday, thousands of families also remembered their loved ones massacred in the riots - and renewed their pledge to continue the fight for justice. Almost three decades later, justice continues to elude.
"There is no chance of complete justice, but we are fighting for symbolic justice. Some leaders should be punished to send out a strong message,"Supreme Court lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka said.
Terming the riots "a blot on the face of the nation and on the justice delivery system", Phoolka said: "If such crimes go unpunished, the future of the nation is in danger."
Passage of time may have dulled the trauma, but family members remember each detail of the violence that took away their fathers, brothers, sons and husbands.
For Nirpreet Kaur, 43, who saw her father Nirmal Singh being burnt alive in the Palam Colony in the Delhi Cantonment area in 1984, "bitterness will persist till the guilty are punished".
There is a story behind her bitterness.
Nirpreet said efforts to seek justice for her father's murder led to "harassment by the police, which branded her a militant."
"As a result, I was jailed twice from 1986 to 1991 and again from 1993 to 1997 under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act," Nirpreet Kaur said.
Acquitted by the sessions court in 1997, she now helps families of other victims seek justice and rehabilitation through her NGO, Justice for Victims.
Pappy Kaur, 42, echoes similar sentiments. She lost 10 of her family members, including her father and elder brother, in the violence in Trilokpuri in east Delhi, one of the worst affected areas during the riots.
"We have not got justice," she said.
with thanks : Times of India : link above for detailed news.
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