Amarjit Kaur’s 32 year old husband, Gurmail Singh and her brother, Darshan Singh, age 19 were killed on the morning of 2 November. They lived in the Shakarpur School Block in Delhi. They were killed in their home and then the bodies were brought out and burnt.1

Balbir Kaur lived in the Old Gobindpura Extension, Shakarpur in New Delhi. Her husband, Rattan Singh, was a taxi driver. The mobs dragged him and his friend, Hakam Singh out of their taxis and attacked with sharp weapons. They were then thrown into the burning taxi. After a while, their bodies were thrown into the Jamuna River. Balbir Kaur would later identify her husband’s body by a part of his turban and a partially burnt foot.2

Bhajan Kaur’s husband, Gian Singh, age 46 had been working in Libya for the past four years, saving all his earnings for the dowry for his eldest daughter’s marriage. On the evening of 1 November, he and his brother was attacked by sword-wielding neighbours and then burnt. The killers then washed their blood-soaked clothes at the water-tap in front of the house where they had killed the two Sikhs.3

Gurmeet Kaur, who lived in the School Block in Shakarpur heard the Youth Congress Party leader of the area raising the slogan ‘Kill the Sikhs, no one should go away alive’, accompanied by 600 non-Sikhs. Her home was attacked and her husband, Swaran Singh age 53 and her son Ajit Singh were dragged out and burnt alive. Her other son, Raghubir Singh was killed in the house. The remaining son ran out and was killed by iron rods and his body set alight outside. All the killers were identified as living in the same School Block where the family lived.  The police refused to record the crimes in their midst.4

Gurnam Kaur of the School Block in Shakarpur heard that on the morning of 2 November from neighbours that a red turbaned Sikh, one old man and one 12th class boy had so far been killed. The call came out that no Sikhs would be spared. First to be killed was her husband, Angad Singh and Gurnam Kaur’s elder brother-in-law, Giyan Singh, who was thrown off the roof. Both bodies were burnt in front of the house along with the son of their tenant.5

Harbhajan Singh was only 16 years of age when on 1 November, he saw local Congress party workers attacking Sikh homes in his area in School Block, Shakarpur. He witnessed the murders of locals, Ajit Singh, Harjinder Singh and Bhinder Singh killed. The next day, the mob killed his father, Mohan Singh and another Sikh, Angat Singh. Both were thrown on gunny bags and burnt alive. Harbhajan’s brother was brought out of the house and also burnt to death. The police were present the whole time, indulging in the killing and looting.6

Jasbir Kaur of the Shakurpur School Block testified that her husband, Amrik Singh, brother-in-law Gurdial Singh and his son, Davinder Singh, age 23 were pursued by Congress party workers equipped with axes and iron rods and killed.7

Kusam Lata Jain of the Shakurpur School Block witnessed the mobs burning alive Bachittar Singh, Nirmal Singh, his father, Balwant Singh, Joginder, Trilochan Singh and Tirath Singh. She also heard that in the nearby street, Gian Singh, Angad Singh and two tenants were stacked on top of each other and burnt alive. She also witnessed a police van giving instructions to the killing gangs. They advanced further into the School Block and broke into more houses, dragging Swaran Singh and his son, Jit Singh. Both were thrown into a truck parked outside their house. Petrol was sprinkled on them and they were burnt alive. Two more Sikhs were killed near the children’s school. All the killers were locals and were arrested by the police but subsequently released.8

Mahinder Kaur’s husband, Rattan Singh, age 45 of J.J. Colony, Shakurpur was killed by a group from the very same colony.9 Bhupinder Singh was just 18 years of age when he was dragged out of his home in the School Block, Shakarpur. He was thrown into a burning truck. His mother, Paramjit Kaur pleads to save his son fell on deaf ears.10

Prem Kaur of the Shakarpur Extension saw her neighbour, Avtar Singh Bhatia chased out of his house and killed. A few hours later, her son, Ravinder Singh, age 37 was dragged from the veranda and beaten to death. The police then spotted Prem’s husband, Giani Kuldeep Singh, age 65 sheltering in a neighbour’s house, was pulled out and killed. His body was placed side by son by his son’s and removed by the police soon after.11

Pritpal Kaur of School Block, Shakarpur testified that the mobs, numbering a thousand were made up of residents of the area with the women folk exhorting them to kill all Sikhs. Four houses down from Pritpal’s house, the mob dragged the two young sons of Charan Kaur out to the street and burnt alive. Pritpal and her family had taken refuge in a neighbour’s home, but her husband, Sahib Singh and her brother, Harpal Singh were in an adjacent vacant house. They were found by the mob, thrown onto a makeshift bonfire and burnt.12

On the night of the 31 October, Sant Singh of the School Block, Shakarpur witnessed twenty local residents, including Congress MP, H.K.L. Bhagat with local Congress worker who were shouting “Blood for blood, Sikhs are traitors, kill them” in the street. The next day, the same group dragged two Sikhs, Tirath Singh, age 22 and Tirlochan Singh, age 25 to the local sweet shop and burnt them alive with petrol. The same mob then put to death four more Sikhs, Hazoora Singh, Sahib Singh, Hari Singh and 15 year old Hazoora Singh, in the presence of police constables. Santokh Singh’s son, Jatinder Singh was also killed.13

Sarup Singh, age 67 was resident of the Upadhya Block, Shakarpur, a soldier in the Indian National Army and freedom fighter during the independence movement. He was also an active Congress Party worker and personally knew the local MP, H.K.L. Bhagat. But this didn’t make any difference when Congress activists attacked his house. Sarup Singh saved his life by escaping to a neighbour’s house.14

Sukhan Singh Saini, a Hindu of the School Block, Shakarpur saw his local MP, H.K.L. Bhagat giving bundles of rupees to a group of Congress workers who would go on to attack local Sikhs.15

Surinder Kaur also lived in the School Block in Shakarpur. Her husband Bachittar Singh along with Balwant Singh, Joginder Singh and Ram Asra Singh hiding in a nearby house which was attacked. All four were beaten and burnt alive.16 Salwinder Singh and Jagtar Singh had recently arrived at the School Block, Shakarpur from the Punjab, to extend a wedding invitation to their relatives. Both were found and roasted alive by locals.17

  1. Affidavit of Amarjit Kaur. ↩︎
  2. Affidavit of Balbir Kaur. ↩︎
  3. Affidavit of Bhajan Kaur. ↩︎
  4. Affidavit of Gurmeet Kaur. ↩︎
  5. Affidavit of Gurnam Kaur. ↩︎
  6. Affidavit of Harbhajan Singh. ↩︎
  7. Affidavit of Jasbir Kaur. ↩︎
  8. Affidavit of Kusam Lata Jain. ↩︎
  9. Affidavit of Mahinder Kaur. ↩︎
  10. Affidavit of Paramjit Kaur. ↩︎
  11. Affidavit of Prem Kaur. ↩︎
  12. Affidavit of Pritpal Kaur. ↩︎
  13. Affidavit of Sant Singh. ↩︎
  14. Affidavit of Sarup Singh. ↩︎
  15. Affidavit of Sukhan Singh. ↩︎
  16. Affidavit of Surinder Kaur . ↩︎
  17. Affidavit of Surjeet Kaur. ↩︎