Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: November 7, 2004
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/915205.cms
Struggle for Justice Advocate Harvinder
Singh Phoolka has spearheaded the long and arduous legal battles for the
1984 riot victims. Two decades after he filed the first case, Phoolka recounts
the fight for justice.
Q.: How did you get associated with
the 1984 riot cases?
A.: I was preparing affidavits
for the riot victims when an elderly person told me that in his family
only four minor girls are left. Their father, mother, brother and uncle
had been killed. His grand-daughters were sent to the Nari Niketan. He
wanted to take them in his custody but did not have any money to pay the
court fees. That was the first case I filed in the high court. In May 1985,
when the government appointed the Mishra commission, I suggested we float
an organisation so that we could pool our resources to take on the government.
Various human rights groups met at Soli Sorabjee's house and formed the
Citizens Justice Committee. Sorabjee, General Arora, Justice Tarkunde,
Khushwant Singh and Justice Narula all signed up as members. Justice Sikri
was made the president. I was appointed the secretary and became the main
counsel of the (Justice Ranganath) Mishra Commission.
Q.: What kind of challenges did
you face during the course of investigation and trial?
A.: H K L Bhagat and Sajjan Kumar
were very powerful those days. My wife gave me full support though other
members of my family said this was very dangerous work. Slowly young boys
and girls joined our team. They visited areas dominated by Kumar and Bhagat
and worked day and night. We were getting threatening letters, but nobody
got scared. Sorabjee, Tarkunde and Sikri were with us through all this.
Q.: Hundreds of survivors, scared
witnesses and powerful political leaders. It must have been a difficult
time in court.
A.: Yes, victims are victimised
in the courts too. Mishra commission's terms of reference were very limited.
It had only to ascertain whether the violence was premeditated. Sorabjee
advised me to concentrate on this rather than filing thousands of affidavits.
I had interviewed more than 3,000 victims and prepared affidavits. Ultimately,
I filed only 575 of them.
Q.: How much time did it take you
to interview these persons?
A.: It took two months. But it
was not just me, but a team. I cross-examined these 575 persons to check
whether they would stand scrutiny. Justice Mishra, however, concentrated
on the flaws in the affidavits. He put these to investigating agency. They
focused not on getting the culprit, but on errors in the affidavits.
Q.: It was primarily a team headed
by a police officer from outside Delhi.
A.: Yes, an IPS officer from Orissa
cadre, Mr Meena, was heading it. Justice Mishra started calling evidences
at random. A total of 620 affidavits had come before the commission. But
there were 2,200 affidavits filed against these victims. Sikhs had sworn
in these affidavits how the police and their MP had saved them from mobs.
Justice Mishra decided to call 25 witnesses from both sides every day.
On the first day, all witnesses from the victims' side appeared but only
one from the other side who said that he had not filed any affidavit. The
one filed in his name was forged. This was widely reported in the newspapers.
Next day, Justice Mishra banned press reports as the hearing was in- camera.
After that Justice Mishra decided
not to call those witnesses. In his report too he wrote that he would ignore
all those affidavits. But in the end we realised that he had examined many
witnesses in his chamber. He did not give us their statements nor did he
allow us to cross examine them. There was only one way we could tell the
world what was happening: Citizen's Justice Committee withdrew from the
commission. They then approached the victims and pressurised them to procure
counter-affidavits. Though the last date of filing such affidavits was
September 9, 1985, Justice Mishra accepted affidavits even in December.
Q.: But many more commissions and
committees came up after Mishra commission.
A.: Nine commissions and committees.
First came the Mishra commission. Justice Mishra said it was not part of
his terms of reference to identify anybody. Mishra recommended three separate
committees: Jain-Banerjee panel to recommend registration of fresh cases,
another committee on the role of the police and the third to ascertain
the number of killings. These committees were appointed in February 1987,
but two and a half years later not even head counts had been done. We submitted
a list to Justice Mishra containing names, addresses and complete details
of 3,870 people killed in Delhi. But the police said 1,419 were killed.
Cases of only these people were registered. And Delhi government filed
a list of 2,300 people killed.
Q.: What do you expect from the
Nanavati commission? You are again the counsel for the victims.
A.: Firstly, all the cases have
not been even registered. Many of those registered were closed by the police
and did not reach the courts. From the Nanavati commission, we are expecting
two things: Registration of murder cases and reopening of about 300 cases
which were closed without any challan or chargesheet being filed. Also,
there has not been any exhaustive inquiry on who is responsible and how
all this happened.
(Log on to http://info.indiatimes.com/1984
for more on the 1984 riots.)
