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How Chillar survivors defied death

How Chillar survivors defied death

Author: Rakesh Ranjan
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 4, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/321946/How-Chillar-survivors-defied-death.html

The horrific tale narrated by survivors of the massacre on the night of November 2, 1984 in Chillar village in Rewari matches the most heart-wrenching escape story scripted ever.

With memory of screams of the people who were burnt alive fresh in their minds and the gory pictures floating before their eyes, some 30-odd persons, including women and children, left the village at midnight seeking a safe shelter. As eyewitnesses and survivors of the carnage revealed, having seen the entire village reducing to ashes, they had lost all hopes of their survival. Fear griped them while they were fleeing the village.

"We tied the mouths of the children with clothes to prevent them from making any noise. The elders too had maintained a deafening silence. They had removed their footwear just to avoid being noticed while leaving the village at the night," said Chandrabhan Singh, a witness to the tragedy who later rescued the survivors to Rewari.

While most of the survivors abandoned the Chillar village forever, the family of Swaroop Singh, who was 58 years old then, chose to settle in Rewari. The family narrated their ordeal, "The entire Sikh population in the village was hiding in three houses located adjacent to a gurdwara. We were hiding in the biggest of the three houses with some women and children of the neighbouring houses taking shelter with us. The frenzied mob first set the gurdwara ablaze. Then they burnt a house in which 17 persons were hiding. Subsequently, the second house with 12 persons inside was also set afire. Armed with iron rods and sticks, the attackers bashed the people who ran out of the burning houses."

This also finds mention in the FIR registered at Jatusana police station, wherein the complainant Dhanpat Singh, the then village head, reported a similar modus operandi.

"There were seven rooms in the house. We bolted the doors from inside and kept changing the rooms to save ourselves from the mob. Unable to ascertain our presence inside the house, the attackers climbed on the roof top, dug a hole in the roof and began setting one room after another afire. The women and children were sacked in one corner. As there was little chance of their survival, one Balwant Singh retaliated killing an attacker. This forced the mob to run away and our lives were saved," recalled Joginder Singh Makkar, the eldest of the four sons of Swaroop Singh.

"In a matter of eight hours, more than 30 persons were charred to death and the entire village was torched. Those escaped the attack were left to their destiny. Police were nowhere to be seen. They took shelter with a Hindu family in the adjacent village of Dhanora, where they were served meals. From there a person went on a bicycle to another village Noorpur, where a man named Nihal Singh had a tractor-trolley. While the survivors of the Sikh community were hidden inside the house, the Hindu friends made necessary arrangements to safely ferry them out of the village," narrated Dhanpat Singh, who is 83 years old now.

"The Hindu villagers who had tried to counsel the mob, which went on the killing spree, were held hostage. They were threatened with dire consequences if they left the spot or passed the information to police. My uncle Nihal Singh, who was a non-Sikh and owned the only tractor in Chillar and other adjoining villages, was initially hesitant to lend help as he feared the mob fury. However, on being persuaded, he agreed and sent two persons to Rewari to arrange fuel for the tractor," recalled Chandrabhan, as he shuddered with pain which the memory of the ghastily event brought.

"It was 8 pm by the time transport was arranged for the victims. However, the tractor trolley was kept out of the Dhanora Village, where the Sikhs were hiding. It was done in order to keep the tractor away from the notice of the attackers who were feared to be present in the nearby areas. The women of the family, where the victims, had taken shelter prepared meals for them. It was completely dark outside and the winter had begun to set in. Some villagers conducted a recce to ensure there was no possible threat to the Sikhs from the mobsters. The male members of the Sikh families had covered up their faces to prevent from being identified. The children's mouths were tied so that they do not utter any sound that could put them in trouble," said Chandrabhan, who finally gathered courage to drive the tractor from the village to Rewari around 11.30 pm. After staying there for some days, they left for Ludhiana, Jalandhar and other parts of Punjab, he added.



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