We must all thank Akalpurakh for this. Justice after 34 years brings solace and a little peace. Sikhs across the world feel satisfied that Sajjan Kumar has been ordered to be imprisoned in Mandoli jail after surrendering at the Karkardooma courts in Delhi with accomplices Mohinder Yadav and Krishan Khokhar. The journey of justice is still on. Sharing his feelings, former journalist-turned-Delhi legislator Jarnail Singh echoes Sikh fears and hopes.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Delhi carnage, when as a Dainik Jagran journalist I flung a shoe at the then Indian Home Minister and Congress leader Palaniappan Chidambaram, World Sikh News editor Jagmohan Singh wrote an Open letter to the Shoe, in which he said, “We love you for you have achieved what years of legal wrangling and executive prevarication could not do.  The gentle toss from the gentlemanly Jarnail Singh’s feet to the vicinity of Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram has immortalized you. In two and half metres you travelled twenty-five years.”

“In two and half metres Jarnail Singh’s shoe travelled twenty-five years.”

My shoe got its victims. The Congress party had to delete the names of those of its candidates who were guilty of being accomplices and perpetrators of the November 1984 massacre.  I have always felt that it was not just the shoe but the collective expression of grief and anger of whole Sikh community which nailed the Congress government.

 Read WSN Editor's Open Letter to the Shoe of Jarnail Singh

I was conscious that my unique protest as a journalist during the press meet, when the Indian home minister gave a clean chit to the killers, was likely to affect the political careers of dreaded criminals like Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler on the leash, but I was not sure that the wheels of justice will turn full circle and Sajjan Kumar will be sentenced for life and shown the road to Tihar.

 Read the reply of The Shoe of Jarnail Singh

To be honest, this seems a dream. I had lost faith in the justice system, when as an 11 year old I saw my school and neighbourhood Gurdwara Sahib burnt in front of my eyes. How could I forget that my polio-stricken disabled elder brother was badly beaten up and my dying uncle was refused treatment by doctors at a hospital, who did not want to treat a Sikh? The litter flicker of hope against hope was further extinguished upon seeing the erring and conspiring Delhi police cops paying obeisance to killers-turned-cabinet ministers.

The prime reason behind the symbolic protest at the Congress headquarters during a press conference was to reinforce that the Sikhs of Guru Gobind Singh had not forgotten the November 1984 carnage. Even if justice had not been done, the spirit to protest was still alive and kicking was the message that had to be conveyed! The shoe that I flung at the home minister brought the Congress to its knees and many Congressmen could be seen hanging their heads in shame!

Prior to the 2009 general elections to the Indian Parliament, India’s leading investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) absolved Jagdish Tytler of all charges and expressed its inability to pursue the case against Sajjan Kumar. However the protest brought about a change of mind. Dr Manmohan Singh’s soul stirred up and the CBI initiated steps to contact November 1984 witnesses.

Jagsher Singh and Jagdish Kaur were added as witnesses in 2010 and the charge sheet was filed. In just about three years, in 2013, the trial court sentenced five of the six accused. Three were sentenced to life and the two others were handed jail terms of three years each. Sajjan Kumar survived sentencing as the judge set him free on technical grounds.

I was forced to ponder, “Is it not the same Sajjan Kumar who has escaped punishment but it was he who had organised mass killings of the Sikhs and also distributed largesse to those who engineered and executed the killings.” I could not help but recall that it is the same Sajjan Kumar who had kidnapped and trapped police personnel who had gone to his residence to arrest him during the course of the court proceedings.

Though the Sikh spirit does not seek revenge, but justice has to be a call for all right thinking individuals and that is what the victim families, Sikhs and their lawyers are consistently doing.

I sensed that Sajjan Kumar was mortally afraid of the noose and was actually “dying every moment.” A Congress party person close to Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, confided in me that they could be heard murmuring with a heavy heart, “this Sardar has entrapped us.”

I sensed that Sajjan Kumar was mortally afraid of the noose and was actually “dying every moment.”

When the Delhi High Court sentenced Sajjan Kumar for life, my being could not help but restore, a little faith in destiny doing justice. Better late than never! How often did I feel barrenness in life because of being perceived as a stranger and always feeling like a second-class citizen? This was even worse than the slavery of the British, but all these years we lived through this.

The Delhi High Court has not merely sent one leader and his paid lumpens to life imprisonment; it serves as a warning to all those individuals and political parties, who indulge in hate politics and who maim and kill sections of populations, particularly minorities, for electoral purposes.

 Delhi High Court Judgement convicting Sajjan Kumar and others

This judgement will instill fear into the hearts and minds of such killers and conspirators that nemesis can catch up even after 34 years! I hope and pray that this judgement would provide some solace to the hundreds of thousands of widows whose tears have still not dried up.

Unquestionably, the order is a milestone in the history of justice for victims of genocide and it is for the first time that Justice Dr S Murlidhar and Justice Vinod Goel of the Delhi High Court have written the order in an international language referring to phrases like, “crimes against humanity” which is  rare and path-breaking.

“Justice Dr S Murlidhar and Justice Vinod Goel of the Delhi High Court have written the order in an international language referring to phrases like, “crimes against humanity” which is  rare and path-breaking. The In­dian ju­di­ciary still has a long way to go.”

As the judgement details and Sajjan Kumar in Tihar jail sinks in, it is time to frame new laws and seek stricter implementation of existing laws for such organised violence as happened in November 1984, Gujarat 2002 and Mumbai 2003, not to ignore the regular hate-crimes against minorities in states like Uttar Pradesh.

The law makers of the country will do well to examine the judgement in detail and fulfill India’s international commitment by incorporating “crimes against humanity”, “genocide” and the like into Indian laws.

Many laws including the proposals for combating communal violence are pending since 2004. The responsibility of the police and bureaucratic administration must be clearly laid down. The 232 criminal cases that have been closed without proper pursuance by the police must be reopened and the guilty brought to justice. The leader conspirators lurking around must face trial. The then Congress leadership must be tried posthumously too.

The scars of injustice will not vanish so easily but justice can provide some solace. The Indian judiciary still has a long way to go.