Duration: 00:07:48

(00:04:10): …in 1984, when Indira Gandhi was assassinated, on that day (31st October), I got that news in the morning. But we kept doing the same routine things which we generally do at the shop. And in the evening, there was heavy rush at the shop and some people from the market came to us and advised me to close the shop a bit early that day. We closed my shop at around 7 PM in the evening and went home. We got some news about some mis-happenings in and around, in the whole of Delhi. But in the morning, when I got up, I just started my day as usual and got ready to go to the shop at the usual time. We had no idea that there was so much of rioting going on in and around Delhi. And in the morning, when I was just about to start from home for the shop, I got a call from my friend on my neighbour’s telephone that at many places, the riots are taking place, and don’t go out of the house and don’t come to the shop. So I couldn’t make it. Then suddenly after that, we got the news about the rampaging mobs attacking all the shops and establishments and then burning the shops, looting the shops all over Delhi. And suddenly, at around 11 AM in the morning, we got the news that my shop had also been ransacked and looted. And along with that, all other shops belonging to Sikhs were looted, burnt in and around all the places and in our market also. We couldn’t step out for the next five to six days. And finally, on 6th of November, I think, we got out, visited our shop and that is the worst thing one could witness. We could see that all the shutters were broken, all the medicines were lying here and there, and all the glass shelves were destroyed, and everything was looted. That scene was horrible. After that, it took us so many days, almost a month, to clean up all the things. And later on, however, with the blessings of all the neighbours, friends and my father, we gathered the courage to start it again. Luckily, I got some reprieve from the insurance company because I had got my shop insured and riots were covered in that insurance. (00:08:01)

(00:13:31): …when we finally went to the Police Station to lodge an FIR (First Information Report), the police Inspector asked us to file a written FIR. So we lodged an FIR over there, and finally when that Inspector came to my shop to confirm the incident, he asked for a bribe at that time. And I had to pay him, because, otherwise, he was not registering the FIR, and it was a necessary document because we had to submit it to the insurance company and other people. That was a horrible time. (00:14:15)

(00:25:23): …Still, all the culprits who were identified by so many people all over Delhi, were let off by the police, courts, and some cases are still going on after 36 years. So many committees have been set up, SITs (Special Investigation Teams) were there, people gave their confirmation in writing that these are the people who were involved. In India, the law takes such a long time. Nobody is convicted who has a political influence. (00:26:12)

(00:26:46): …the political pressure is so much on the courts, even the higher courts are influenced by the political people, to get justice is very difficult in India. So many of the widows have given their affidavits to so many committees which were formed, SITs which were formed, even then no justice has been done by any of the courts. (00:27:25)

(00:37:13): …That episode has left a very bad scar in my heart. It is very difficult to forget those incidents. It has left a bad scar. It is very difficult to forget. Every so often, I have visions of that scene when we went to our shop for the first time, after a week’s time, after it was ransacked and looted. The mobs going around in the streets with lathis, sticks and even firearms. All of it is still very fresh in the mind. At that time, I was very young. I could have thought of expanding the business. But that confidence was not there. It shook my confidence to a level that every time I considered an expansion, the thought crossed my mind that it could happen again to me. (00:38:52)