SIT will probe role of bureaucrats in 1984 anti-Sikh riots: UP minister

KANPUR: Minister of state for irrigation and minorities welfare, Baldev Singh Aulakh, said that SIT would investigate the role of bureaucrats in the 1984 anti-Sikh genocide in Kanpur.

Talking to mediapersons at the circuit house here on Tuesday, the minister said there were reports that during anti-Sikh riots, some bureaucrats had not performed their duties in controlling the riots. "It is quite surprising that after 1984 riots, no government did bother to touch the issue of mass killing of Sikhs in the city, and whatever they did, was just an eyewash, as later almost all the accused involved in the killings were given a clean chit", Aulakh said. The SIT would probe the role of all accused in the riots who had been given clean chit by the previous state goverments, and if found guilty, would be punished, he added.

The members of the Sikh community now hope to get justice after 34 years of the genocide, Aulakh claimed. "The BJP-led state government is committed to provide justice to the 1984 riot victims who had lost their kin", he said.

Lauding the efforts of chief minister Yogi Adityanath for ordering an inquiry by the SIT in 1984 riots, Aulakh said, "Please don't connect it with the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. We are just following instructions of the apex court which had sought information and the status of various cases related with the riots."

He said Kanpur was the second city after Delhi where large number of Sikhs were killed following assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi in 1984. When asked why the government is not considering to give a proper financial package to Sikhs as most of the riot accused are not alive, Aulakh said, "the financial package is different, and giving justice to those who had lost their kin was something else. One cannot balance death of a person with weight of money", he said.