Two generations later,the scars remain

Twenty-seven years after riots rocked the Capital following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi,Gurjeet and others of the third-generation of victims’ families feel the 1984 horror continues to shape the course of their lives and mould their destinies.

Kaur had been married only a few months,and was visiting her parents home in Trilokpuri,when the riots started.

“It was Prabhat Pheri on November 2 and we were up early to prepare for it. Suddenly,the rioters came,pelting stones and shouting slogans. Police arrived a little later,and the Sikhs felt relieved. Shockingly,the policemen then started shooting our men,” Kaur said.

She watched helplessly as her husband,younger brother,a brother-in-law and an uncle were doused with petrol and set on fire. Her elder brother Teerath,she said,was standing on the terrace of the house when a policeman shot at him. “A bullet hit him in the temple and he died on the spot. I can identify the policeman even today. For the present generation,these are stories. For us,it was a reality,” said Kaur.

Widowed months after her marriage,the families decided to marry Kaur to her husband’s younger brother who was only 14 years old and a student of Class VI.

He later took to drinking and drug abuse and is now at a drug de-addiction centre.

Kaur,meanwhile,lives with the couple’s five children in their government-allotted flat in Tilak Vihar. Working as a teacher in a local government school,she is the sole breadwinner of her family.

Describing her mother as “a very courageous woman”,Gurjeet said things could have been different for the family if her “first father” was alive.

As an afterthought,she added,“I do not blame my ‘new’ father for his behaviour. He became an addict because he believed the burden of his brother’s widow now fell on him. After his behaviour started deteriorating,mother put her foot down and admitted him in the rehab,even though it costs us Rs 4,000 a month to sustain him there,” Gurjeet said.

The Tilak Vihar C-Block Colony,also known as the ‘Widow Colony’,where the family lives has many women who lost their husbands to the riots.

“The names may change; but the stories are all the same,” Gurjeet said.

No memories

For the family of 21-year-old B Sc student Manpreet Kaur,the riots are taboo and they never speak of it. Manpreet’s mother,Satpal was 13 when her Nand Nagari house was burnt down along with her entire family.

“Only my mother survived the riots. My grandfather owned a factory in Karol Bagh. People say we had everything — refrigerator,motorcycle,television — that were luxuries then. It was all gone,” Manpreet said.

The family lives in Jahangirpuri and barely makes ends meet. “The impact of the riots on our generation is worse. We never discuss those times now because it disturbs our mother,” she said.

Though they always wanted to,Manpreet and her siblings never visited their Nand Nagari home. She attended the candle-light vigil held at India Gate for the first time on Tuesday.

“It also pinches me how the criminals got away. Today,I cannot boast of a maternal family. There are no photographs to show who my grandparents and uncles were. They all were burnt or destroyed in the riots,” Manpreet said.

Lost childhood

Gurpal Singh (31) remembers the riots as a tragedy from which he escaped alive,though not unscathed.

Singh was five years old when his house in Shakarpur was attacked by rioters on November 1.

“My grandfather was the Pradhan of the local gurudwara and so ours was one of the first houses to be attacked. A crowd of at least 4,000 attacked us that morning. My grandmother went out to request the policemen deployed in the area for help,but was turned away. They told her ‘this had to happen’,” Singh said.

A few hours later,the family’s house was set on fire. That day,Singh lost his father,Ajit Singh (26),his grandfather and two paternal uncles.

Recalling how his father was asked to cut his hair to save his life,Singh said,“The fire was already spreading in the house and I was in my father’s lap. A group of men with swords,including a pandit wearing a yellow Om robe,came and said they would ‘grant’ my and father’s life if he agreed to cut his hair. My father refused. Though they let me go,I saw my father being burnt alive.” The memory has stayed with Singh.

The family finally escaped from the back gate of the house and remained hidden in a Brahmin neighbour’s house for three days,before moving to their relative’s house.

They were allotted a 25-square-yard DDA flat in Kailash Colony,but Singh moved to a larger house in Sant Nagar after his marriage seven years ago.