In Palam Colony, Pritam Singh Sewak was killed, along with his wife and 20-year-old son. All were burnt alive. Their tenants, both husband and wife were also burnt alongside Pritam Singh.1

Gurpreet Singh was attacked and killed as was his son and namesake, Gurpreet Singh. Gurpreet’s brother-in-laws, Narinder Pal Singh, age 35, Raguvinder Singh, age 25 and Kuldip Singh, age 21 managed to hide from the mobs in the top of their house but were spotted by neighbours who attacked them and also burnt them alive. The nearby Gurdwaras, Gurdwara Raj Nagar, Gurdwara Sadh Nagar and Gurdwara Baba Sukha Singh were attacked and burnt. A large number of Sikhs were also killed at a railway line, a stone’s throw away from Palam Colony police station. Witnesses testified that both the police and army were involved in the killings.2

Three to four local policemen told Sikh residents that they are going to be attacked for ‘killing Indra’, and ordered all Sikhs to come out of them houses. Twenty Sikhs in total made their way to the Gurdwara Raj Nagar. The 2000 strong mob, led by local Congress leaders including Balwan Khokhar began to attack the Gurdwara. The local MP, Sajjan Kumar was nearby and told Congress workers “Now start killing”3 Sajjan Kumar was also heard saying “beat these people and burn them alive”. Some of the Sikhs were asked to start their motorcycles or scooters. Once this happened, oil was thrown on them and set on fire. Khokhar accompanied five police personnel to the near-by Sikh homes, pointing out Sikh houses to the mobs. All of them were shouting “Finish the Sikhs today, even their seed should not escape”.4 In Palam Colony, a local doctor, Dr. Sharma was seen noting down Sikh businesses to be burnt. One witness recognised two local boys who had climbed on the roof a house shouting “Sardaro (Sikhs) come out” One of the boys named Omi worked for Indian Airlines.5 The other, Pratap was carrying the white powder, used to set fire Sikh shops and homes.6

In Sadh Nagar, Palam Colony, Kishandev Singh’s son was burnt alive by three local boys. Kishandev was also attacked as was his other son, Kuldip Singh. They also beat his mother, Gurbachan Kaur and broke her arm.7 Another Sikh family, headed by Inder Singh Kapoor and popularly known as the Kapoor family were all burnt alive.8 The following nine Sikhs were killed from Gali No. 16 and 17: Surjit Singh, Ajit Singh, Paramjit Singh, Kirpal Kaur, Satnam Singh, Balwinder Singh, Bhupinder Singh and the Brother in law of Inder Singh Marwah. In the Sadh Nagar alone, around 32 Sikhs were killed. The police refused to help and ignored the incidents when a report was lodged with them.9

Nearby in Sagarpur, Nangal Rai, Harbans Singh was burnt alive10 and in Safarpur, Parkash Kaur saw four bodies of Sikhs in the street while on her way home to warn her sons of the violence. One of her sons, Kuldip Singh was being chased by a large mob and caught hold of him. One of the men shouted, “If you cut your hair cut, we shall not harm you and let you go”. His mother heard her son refuse the offer; the men nonetheless forcibly cut his hair. They then hit him with iron rods, pour kerosene on him, sprinkled the chemical powder and burnt him alive. The hoodlums began dancing around the burning body. Later on, Parkash Kaur would learn her husband, Harnam Singh had also been killed in the Mahavir Enclave.11

In Raj Nagar, Palam Colony, a local man was heard, in the presence of Surjeet Kaur and her husband, Avtar Singh that all the Sardars and Sardarnis (Sikh men and women) had been killed and “you are the only couple left”. On hearing this, the couple quickly returned to their homes. Soon after, a mob numbering 500 arrived at the house. They threw bricks at the house, injuring Surjeet Kaur. One of the men got hold of Avtar Singh and forcibly cut his hir and beard and went away. At 2am , the mob returned and this time struck Avtar Singh with a chop knife, threw acid on his face, burning it before setting his whole body alight with petrol. The attack took place in front of his children, daughters Baljit Kaur, age 18 and Jasbir Kaur, age 12, son, Amarjit Singh, age 14. The daughters were dragged out by the mob but survived and the son managed to escape and hid behind the back of the house for five days before he was found.12

After the local Gurdwara was attacked in Raj Nagar, the local Congress councillor, Balwan Khokhar came to Nirmal Singh’s house and asked him to come out and go with him on his scooter. Without suspecting anything, Nirmal sat behind him on his scooter. Khokhar drove towards the mob and handed him over. A rope was taken from a local shop. Nirmal’s daughter, Nirpreet Kaur ran out crying toward her father and saw him being tied. Kerosene was poured over him and he was set alight. His daughter watched in horror of her father’s fate.13

A local Hindu man, Prakash Chand, husband of Satya saved his neighbour, Baldev Singh and his wife, Surjit Kaur in Vijay Enclave, Palam Road after he witnessed house after house of Sikhs being murdered by mobs on 1 November. In the evening of 2 November, the mob took Prakash away and killed him for protecting Sikhs.14

  1. Affidavit of Harnam Singh. ↩︎
  2. Affidavit of Jagdish Kaur. ↩︎
  3. Affidavit of Sampuran Kaur ↩︎
  4. Affidavit of Jaswinder Singh. ↩︎
  5. Affidavit of Kartar Singh. ↩︎
  6. Affidavit of Raj Kumar. ↩︎
  7. Affidavit of Kishandev Singh. ↩︎
  8. Affidavit of Lachhman Singh Bhatia. ↩︎
  9. Affidavit of Ravinder Singh. ↩︎
  10. Affidavit of Nirmal Kaur. ↩︎
  11. Affidavit of Parkash Kaur. ↩︎
  12. Affidavit of Surjeet Kaur. ↩︎
  13. Affidavit of Sampuran Kaur. ↩︎
  14. Affidavit of Satya Devi. ↩︎