By Bir Devinder Singh
The issue of cold blood murders of seven Sikh prisoners in the Pilibhit jail of UP, after unleashing horrendous third degree tortures excruciating pain, way back in November 1994 has surfaced prominently in the print media. The other day some members of Parliament from Punjab, called on the Union Home Minister Mr. Raj Nath Singh, seeking CBI probe in the incident happened during the regime of Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Ironically the dispensation of Mr. Yadav booked only 41 person out of the 200 strong joint contingent, consisting of the UP police and Jail officials of Pilibhit jail who were responsible for the bloodbath . Even these forty-one persons against whom the cases of murder were registered , who were considered responsible for the murders of the hapless Sikh prisoners, were let off by Mulayam Singh as Chief Minister in 2007 for want of credible evidence against them.
The retrospective review of the horrendous crime has brought in focus the mysterious role of some prominent politician, especially belonging to the Sikh community who were at the helm, post Pilibhit carnage, calls for the appraisal of their scandalous silence on the issue, with clinical precision.
Mrs. Meneka Gandhi who claims to be born and brought up in the Sikh Family by Sikh parents represented the Lok Sabha constituency of Pilibhit for six times and currently She is Minister in the Union cabinet led by Mr. Narinder Modi. This area of Pilibhit has a substantial presence of the Sikh population which is why Mrs. Meneka Gandhi chooses this area to contest election almost every time. Mrs Gandhi has never ever thought appropriate to raise the issue of the murders of the Sikh prisoners neither in Parliament nor at any other forum of consequence whatsoever, in a discernable manner. Her mysterious silence on the issue till date is questionable and people of the area in general and Sikhs in particular would like to know from her as to what recourse she has taken, ever since she has learned about the unfortunate incident.
Second eminent person who falls in this suspiciously exploratory category is S. Tarlochan Singh Former MP and former Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, Govt. of India. He was certainly expected to take suo moto cognizance of the matter because all the victims of the Pilibhit Jail carnage belonged to the Sikh Minority community of India. It is pertinent to mention here that the National Commission for Minorities was granted the statutory status in the year 2003 while Mr. Tarlochan Singh was its chairman of the commission and he continued as such till February 2006. Unfortunately minority commission never deemed it appropriate to address the issue with alacrity it deserved. Later on he became member of the Rajya Sabha from Haryana and served his tenure in the upper house for six year till July 2010. But never took any notice of the unprecedented atrocities committed against the minority Sikh Community in Uttar and failed to deliver justice to the families who suffered unfathomable losses of their bread winners..
Similarly Mr. Balwant Singh Ramoowalia colossally failed to address the issue both as member of the National Commission for the Minorities and thereafter as Union Minister in the Dave Gouda dispensation. He managed the cabinet berth through manipulation using the influence of Late Maxist Leader Sh. Harkishan Singh Surjit, who also helped him to become member of Rajya Sabha from UP for Six year, curtsey Mulayam Singh Yadav then Chief Minister of UP. Intriguingly he is again Minister of Jails in Uttar Pradesh Government led by Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son Mr. Akhlesh Yadav. Let us see how Mr. Balwant Singh Ramoowalia pursues the case of victims of Pilibhit Jail bloodshed, while him being the Minister for Jails of Uttar Pradesh. The three politicians mentioned above certainly owe a public explanation as to why they miserably failed to take the cases of the victims, with the required sense of justice and committed eagerness, while they were at the helms.