1984 Sikh Genocide: Tytler's Plea Deferred to Nov, Lakhwinder Kaur Testifies

On 3 Oct, the Delhi High Court deferred a petition filed by INC leader Jagdish Tytler challenging the framing of charges against him in the 1984 anti-Sikh genocide case to 29 Nov. The plea contests Judge Rakesh Syal of Rouse Avenue Courts’ decision on 30 Aug to frame charges against Tytler under Sections 302 (murder), 109 (abetment), 147 (rioting), 153A (promoting enmity between groups), and 143 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code in the case related to the killings of Sikhs in Delhi’s Pul Bangash area following the assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi on 31 Oct 1984 (SDW Vol 2 Issue 36, Story 2). On 13 Sep, Tytler denied all charges and pleaded not guilty to the offenses. Lakhwinder Kaur, wife of Badal Singh, one of the three victims at Gurdwara Pul Bangash during the 1984 Sikh genocide in Delhi, testified on 3 Oct that granthi (custodian of Guru Granth Sahib) Surender Singh told her that, from the roof of the Gurdwara, he saw Tytler inciting the mob. Tytler said, ‘Kill the Sikhs, torch the Gurdwara.’ Meanwhile, Indian movie star Amitabh Bachchan, variously accused – India’s national television Doordarshan has not made the tapes public – of inciting the Sikh genocide said on a television show Kaun Banega Crorepati (Based on Who Will Become a Millionaire?), ‘My father was from Uttar Pradesh, and my mother was from a Sikh family. I believe I am half-Sikh.’ About a decade ago, prominent Sikh activist Jagdish Kaur, whose three brothers were killed in the genocide, claimed that Bachchan had sloganeered ‘blood for blood’ on live television and the whole country heard it.