The wheels of justice turn slowly…

At last, a 207-page judgement by the Delhi High Court has unmasked an unprecedented crime against humanity and brought to justice the high and mighty Congress leader Sajjan Kumar for the anti—Sikh pogrom of 1984 though belatedly after 34 long years. The assassination of former Prime minister Mrs Indira Gandhi was undoubtedly tragic.

But more tragic was the merciless mass murders of 2733 innocent Sikhs who had no direct links to her assassination while an inexcusably apathetic justice delivery system and botched up and derailed investigation agencies turned blind to the ghoulish genocide and deaf to the bleeding voice of butchered Sikh families in Delhi and elsewhere.

What the 10 commissions and committees could not do is now done by a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court. In fact , Sajjan Kumar was implicated only in the 2005 Nanavati commission report. In 2010, a special court took three years to convict five accused for the offences of armed rioting and murder and acquit Sajjan Kumar of all offences. Prior to that, such was the sheer political clout of Sajjan Kumar in 1990 that even the CBI officers who went to arrest him were held hostage until he obtained anticipatory bail.

In fact, those were the decadent days of blatant brute force, administrative complicity and political patronage of gangsters who masqueraded as hon’ble MPs. Thanks to the CBI which took up investigation into the murder of five members of a Sikh family in 2005 in due compliance with the recommendations of the Nanavati Commission, justice seemed to be round the corner. Now the Bench of Justices of Delhi High Court has overturned the April 13,2013 judgement of the trial court and sent the accused along with Sajjan Kumar to prison for life.

The Court also convicted Sajjan Kumar of promoting enmity between different groups on different grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of communal harmony ,defiling and destruction of a Gurudwara. ‘’ Crimes against Humanity and Genocide’’ which are engineered by political actors with the assistance of law enforcing agencies. In a scathing indictment of state agencies and the criminal justice delivery system, the court observed that it was important to assure the victims that despite the challenges faced by the court, ‘’ truth will prevail and justice will be done.’’

Despite judicial pronouncements against mob violence, communal riots and lynchings , it is still shocking to see even certain Union ministers garlanding lynching convicts when they are out on bail. Has not the CM of UP ridiculously downplayed the recent horrific murder of a police inspector after the Bulandshahr violence simply as an accident. Was not the Sri Krishna Committee report which indicted Bal Thackeray and his henchmen for the Mumbai riots given a quite burial? In spite of such horrendous human aberrations and atrocities, let us agree with Herbert who said ‘’God’s mill grinds slow but sure.’’

- SM Kompella, Kakinada