“One thing haunts us that it took 34 years to find out that Sajjan Kumar was involved in the riots,” said Kashmir Kaur, who heads the Riot Victims Association, while reacting to the High Court verdict. Around 100 riot victim families, according to Kaur, had made Mohali their home after their businesses were destroyed and family members killed in the riots.
Gurdeep Singh (69), now lives in Mohali’s Phase 11. He and his brother, Pradyuman Singh, ran a small workshop in Delhi’s Jahangir Puri area at the time of the riots.
“On December 2, 1984, a mob took away my brother and two of our workers. I was lucky as I was working in the basement and I got the wind of the people coming to our workshop. I hid inside the basement. Some in the mob wanted to burn down the basement too, but then they left. I escaped later, but never saw my brother again, I still can not forget that horrifying day,” said Gurdeep Singh.
When asked about Monday’s verdict, Gurdeep said that it was difficult for him to say that he was satisfied as the verdict had come too late.
“We lost hope of getting justice, but now what is the use this (verdict), we waited for long, many families were destroyed and the successive governments played politics over it,” he added.
Santosh, who also lost two of her brothers in the riots, said that she saved her life after climbing a tree near their house.
“We want other people who were involved to be convicted too, but how strange it is that people who killed hundreds were not even arrested,” she said.
