MANJIT SINGH SAWHNEY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By way of the present petition, the petitioner is seeking payment of Rs.1,18,275.00 with interest on account of compensation for the injuries and loss suffered by him in the 1984 riots. The 31st of October, 1984 saw the unfurling of a saga of terror let lose by barbaric mobs indulging in a spate and orgy of violence directed against a specific community after the killing of late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi. The agony of the people effected would have known no bounds in as much as there are allegations and instances to the effect that the protectors of life, society and property completely failed in discharge of their duty to protect and, if did not actually perpetrate the crime, acted in their promotion and tacit support to the unruly mobs. Noticing the turmoil, tragedy and loss suffered by mankind, Anil Dev Singh J in his judgment reported at 1996 III AD Delhi 333 entitled Bhajan Kaur Vs. Delhi Administration, commented thus:- 5. The case demonstrates how innocent lives were snuffed out by barbaric mobs indulging in an orgy of violence after the brutal killing of Smt. Indira Gandhi. It is not difficult to visualise the terror, pain and the suffering which must have struck the affected people not at the hands of beasts but fellow beings belonging to the same mother land to which the dead belonged. Bemoaning the loss of the near ones how they would have preferred beast to human beings for company and must have yearned for a place free of marauding crowds-yearned for a place where fear would not enter-yearned for a situation described in the following words of Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore:-

(2.) One does not have to go far back in the memory lane and most of us can recollect the horror and agony suffered by every right thinking citizen of this country as to what was being experienced. The agony of those who actually underwent the experience and dejection at the failure of the state machinery to ensure the life and liberty constitutionally granted to them, cannot be expressed in words. Till date, cases relating to prosecution of persons accused of involvement in the riots which occurred are ending in courts.

(3.) There has been little success at bringing the guilty to book and this has only compounded the hopelessness in the minds of victims.