Nirpreet Kaur was only 16 when she witnessed the horrific murder of her father near a Gurdwara in Delhi’s Raj Nagar on the morning of November 1, 1984. Her father was the head Granthi at the Gurdwara
“We were a very happy family. My father Nirmal Singh and mother Sampuran Kaur loved me a lot. Our house was located next to Raj Nagar Gurdwara that was defiled and torched by the communally charged mobs on November 1, 1984,” recalls Nirpreet Kaur, one of the three witnesses against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar.
Today, she wept as she spoke to reporters outside the Delhi High Court which sentenced Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to life in jail for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The 73-year-old politician was convicted in the killing of five members of a family in Raj Nagar and the torching of a gurdwara.
“I have got justice after 34 years… He (Sajjan Kumar) will go to jail,” she said, her voice choking.
Settled in Mohali now, Nirpreet says her mother had sent her to Punjab long ago fearing for her life.
The 207-page judgment describes the chilling witness accounts of what happened on that autumn morning.Then Congress MLA Mahendra Yadav and Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar, who were known to my father, came to our house pretending to offer us security. But after my father let them in, they dragged him out. Nirpreet Kaur’s father, Nirmal Singh, was doused in kerosene. When the mob was unable to find any matchsticks, a policeman shouted and gave a matchbox to one of the men who set the Sikh man on fire. Nirmal Singh jumped into a drain. The mob then tied him to a pole and set him on fire for the second time when they noticed that he was still alive. Nirmal Singh fought back and jumped into the drain again. His daughter saw the mob return and hit him with a rod. One of the men then “sprinkled some white powder (phosphorus) on him, causing burns,” the order read.
A day after her father’s killing, Nirpreet Kaur reported Sajjan Kumar, the area’s lawmaker then, making a speech in which he said even those Hindus who were protecting Sikhs should be killed.
“I saw Sajjan Kumar giving a speech saying that not a single Sardar who killed Indira Gandhi should be saved. My life became hell since then,” Ms Kaur said.
Nirpreet Kaur said after she named Sajjan Kumar, she was slapped with the now-defunct TADA law on her for alleged links with Sikh militant groups. The charges were later dropped.
“I had false cases against me and I was jailed. My mother too wasn’t spared. She too had to spend three years in jail,” she said.
Asked which part of her journey to justice was the toughest, she says the toughest part was when those who perpetrated the crime against her family began to torture her near and dear ones to intimidate her.
“They wanted me to withdraw the case. My close friend was killed and his death was shown as an accident. Then my mother was picked up and jailed. A false case under TADA was slapped against me. I spent nine years in jail, but did not go back on my word,” she says, pledging to keep helping the victims of 1984 carnage.
The HC today placed on record its appreciation for the fearlessness of witnesses Nirpreet Kaur, Jagdish Kaur and Jagsher Singh, saying it was due to their testimonials that Sajjan Kumar had been brought to justice
They wanted me to withdraw the case. My close friend was killed and his death was shown as an accident. Then my mother was picked up and jailed. A false TADA case was slapped against me.
I spent nine years in jail, but did not go back on my word. — Nirpreet Kaur, Witness