Chandigarh, June 19 (UNI) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday received an assurance from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that the Jodhpur detainees would get their just due.
The SAD delegation, led by Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, and including MPs Balwinder Singh Bhundur and Naresh Gujral, besides Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee (DSGMC) president Manjit Singh GK and SGPC executive committee member Bhagwant Singh Sialka, also urged the Home minister to declassify all papers related with Operation Bluestar, so that the role of the Congress as well as that of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, could be brought before the people.
It also urged the Home Minister to resolve the issue of historic Dang Mar Sahib Gurudwara, besides intervening to remove grievances of Sikh community in Shillong.
Giving details about the meeting, Ms Badal said Mr Singh gave a patient hearing to the delegation and assured it that he would examine all their points for speedy redressal.
Speaking on the issue of Jodhpur detainees, she said the delegation briefed the Home minister that an Amritsar court had passed an order in 2017, awarding compensation to 40 Sikh youth, who were taken into illegal custody from Shri Darbar Sahib Complex, after completion of Operation Bluestar in 1984.
She said the youth, who were awarded compensation of Rs four lakh each, had been incarcerated in Jodhpur jail for four to five years before being released. She said a total of 365 youth had been detained from the Golden Temple complex after the army action.
The delegation briefed Mr Singh that now, when an opportunity had arisen to give partial closure to the sufferings, the CBI has moved an application in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, appealing against the judgement of the session's court.
The delegation said this move had hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community worldwide because the CBI had followed the Congress government stand on this issue. It said this stand needed to change under the NDA government.
It also asked the Home Minister to speed up the process for award of adequate compensation to all Jodhpur Sikh detainees and their families and not only the 40 detainees, who have been awarded compensation as of now.
It also said this compensation should be increased further as Rs four lakh awarded to the 40 erstwhile detainees did not commensurate with the suffering caused to them, as well as the loss of the most precious years of the their life.
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