Amit Shah: Modi govt ensured justice to '84 riot victims

New Delhi, October 13

Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said justice to the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots was delivered only after the Narendra Modi government assumed office in 2014.

Addressing a programme of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee here, Shah said 300 cases related to the 1984 riots were reopened and compensation of Rs 5 lakh was given to the family of each of the victims after 2014.

Interestingly, opposite to what Shah claimed, the Home Ministry, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on April 30, 2013, had said that 442 of 3,163 persons arrested for the riots in New Delhi were convicted for their crimes. In all, 650 cases were registered.

Shah said: “No one can forget the riots of 1984. No one was punished until Modi assumed office. Many inquiry commissions were formed but they did not yield results. But Modi formed a SIT, reopened 300 cases and started sending those who were guilty to jail.”

Paying tributes to the Sikh gurus and the Sikh community, Shah said Sikhs move forward taking both religion and karma equally.

He said: “I bow my head to the Guru tradition of the Sikh religion. It has set before the world an excellent example of struggle and sacrifice against injustice and barbarity.”