The anti-Sikh riots that happened in India in 1984 will always remain a very painful part of modern India’s history. Even though much of the anger has waned, most of the culprits behind these massacres which resulted in the deaths of over 3000 innocent Sikhs and the rape of hundreds in just a mere three days, were never put to justice.

The Sikhs have always been mainstream patriotic Indians. Till date most of us have never been able to come to terms why all this happened. For nearly three days, mobs ruled the city of Delhi and burned, hacked or raped any Sikh in sight. The local police took no action to protect them. All this has been well documented and the purpose of this narration is not to provide an overall description of the events.

Instead I wish to narrate the incidents that happened at Guru Harkrishan Public School in Vasant Vihar, New Delhi on the morning of Novermber 1st, 1984. I was a student of the 11th grade of this school when the massacres that followed the assassination of the then Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi occurred. The following is an account based upon my own experiences and eye-witnesses who consisted of my close friends and the school staff.

Guru Harkrishan Public School is a very noticeable building on New Delhi’s Outer Ring Road. It is one of the largest school campuses in the city and the architecture of the school is very impressive. Its distinct red stone  makes it a sort of a landmark for people looking for directions in the area. The school even though located in Vasant Vihar, which is a posh South Delhi colony, it borders the neighboring colony of Munirka which consists of a village along with residential flats (apartments).

Guru Harkrishan Public School being a Sikh school was about 95% Sikh. The total population of the school must have been over 1000 staff and students.I still vividly remember the day Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards. Our school was closed early and we were sent home. I will not deny that a few of us Sikh students caught up in the anger of the times were elated by the assassination and some students were shouting cries of victory.  In hindsight I now see that we were wrong in doing this. But the truth must be told and accepted if we wish to attain closure.

Guru Harkrishan Public School was considered a very “rich kid” school. Most of the students were from well off Sikh business families of Delhi. These Sikhs were basically part of the Delhi “Puppy” culture or the rich urban Punjabi version of “Yuppy”. For people who are familiar with this culture, it needs no explaining. We were the first school in those days to have a computer. I still remember my first exposure to a PC that the school had invested in. It also had premier facilities that left most other schools behind. The image associated with the school thereby made it a prime target during the days that were to come.

The school also had staff quarters at the rear of the campus which bordered Munirka. There were two buildings. One building consisted of apartments for senior staff. The other building was for junior staff and other school employees. In the the front on the other side of the playground, was the Principals bungalow. The Principal at the time was Dr. H.S. Singha.

On the night of the assassination, rioting broke out in the neighboring Munirka colony. There was a prominent Sikh shop in Munirka called Sardar Wool Shop. The shop was gutted along with some other Sikh shops in the area.

Munirka was at that time home to a prominent and powerful family called Tokas. Mahesh Chandra Tokas was the Congress Party councillor for the Munirka region of Delhi. The second Congress party bigwig of the area was Arjun Das, also based in Munirka. The Tokas family was a family that depended upon their muscle power. They were the known “Goondas” of the area and very few people messed with them. They had several businesses, primary amongst them was transport. They possessed a fleet of buses with the family name Tokas painted on either side.

On the morning following the assasination of Mrs. Gandhi, my friend Jasjit who was the son of Mr. Sethi, the school engineer and lived in the staff quarters, along with some other friends who also resided in the school premises, were spending the morning sitting and chatting near the playground. They noticed about 50 men armed with bamboo sticks enter the school campus. The guards of the campus had seemingly disappeared. The approximately 50 men were looking at them and were apparently nervous. As Jasjit and my other friends on the scene later told me, they were armed with petrol bombs. They threw these bombs into one of the school buses that was parked in the campus. The bus exploded into flames.

Everybody was taken by surprise. Nobody ever thought that anybody could have the audacity to do this. Mr Sukhdeep Singh, who was the school Sports teacher came out onto the field. He rounded up all the young boys which included my friend Jasjit, Vishal, son of Mrs. Reita Singh a school teacher and Manpreet, son of school Headmaster Mr. Grewal. There were about 8 of them. They charged the mob of 50 with no weapons in their hands, just screaming at the top of their voices. The mob of 50, which severely outnumbered them, ran off without a fight.

This all was followed by total chaos. Mr. Sethi, the school engineer and father of Jasjit, was terrified for his son. All the families had come out of the residential buildings and were scared about what would happen next. Mr Sethi went running to Mr Sukhdeep Singh and the other boys who had chased the mob away. He ordered them back to the residential area where everybody else had gathered. They all listened to him. Mr Sethi was of somewhat ill health and he walked back slowly.

Behind the school in the area that bordered Munirka, there was an open drain, beyond which was Munirka where some of the residential flats were visible. Next to the school was a small slum where about 50 families lived in mud huts. It seems that these people got a sniff that their was going to be a rioting opportunity. Maybe they received direct orders. They entered the school from the rear by cutting the barbed wire that was along the school perimeter. Mr Sethi was still slowly walking back when they attacked him from the rear. He was hit on the head with a bamboo stick . They left him for dead as he fell unconscious and was bleeding profusely from the head wound he received.

In the meantime it seems that the mobs regrouped. Perhaps on the orders of their political bosses. According to eye-witnesses some three busloads full of rioters entered the school premises. All the buses had the Tokas logo on their sides.

Mr Sethi, by some miracle regained consciousness. He got up and started to slowly walk back to the residential area. All the school staff and their families had taken refuge in the flat of Mr. Purohit who was the school registrar. Mr. Purohit was a Hindu who lived in the school premises along with his wife and their married son. Mr Sethi was somehow able to make it to Mr Purohits residence. Everybody turned to Mr. Purohit for help as he was the only Hindu on the campus. There was also the 4th class servants, but they themselves were terrified. Mr. Purohit and his son showed remarkable courage and poise. They had over 50 Sikhs in their flat and assured them that he would do whatever possible to keep everyone safe.

Meanwhile the mob had started their rampage. They started looting the main school complex and attacked the principals bungalow. The principal Dr. Singha along with this wife and daughter were inside the building and had locked all the doors. The mob threw petrol bombs on the house and it caught on fire. One of the 4th class employees had already cycled to the police station which was on the other end of Vasant Vihar (in C-Block) at that time. The police dismissed him and said their was nothing they could do if the school was burning and people lives were in danger.

One of the schools English teachers, Mrs. Gill was married to an army officer, Colonel Gill. I do not know the details, but he got some indication of what was happening in GHPS. The army which was by far secular, had already issued two armed soldiers to each Sikh officer for the protection of them and their families. Col. Gill sent his soldiers to the school. They came to the principals bungalow, which was burning with the Singha family trapped inside. The soldiers fired in the air and the mob withdrew. They rescued Dr. Singha and his family and took him to the Gill residence. For reasons unknown to me, no effort was made to rescue the other Sikhs hiding in Mr. Purohits residence. Perhaps they had given up on them.

By now the whole school complex was filled with a mob of looters. I was told that the whole playground which was the size of a soccer field plus more, was full of a sea of rioters. Perhaps over 1000 people armed with bamboo sticks and petrol bombs. Mr Purohit and his son stood outside the residential quarters  and were pleading with the rioters not to loot the residential complex. They risked their lives with a bunch of rioters who were out to kill. They told them that all the Sikhs had left early in the morning and that only a few Hindus were left in the complex. When rioters tried to burn the cars/scooters that were parked nearby. they claimed that they all belonged to them. I am told that the rioters kept using profuse and foul language with Mr. Purohit and his son. Many times they even threatened to kill him and his family for living with Sikhs. But Mr. Purohit and his son stood their ground and courageously kept the mob at bay.

Meanwhile Mr Sethi’s condition was deteriorating. His had lost a lot of blood. His son Jasjit, was adamant on getting help, even though he was being held back by others who did not want the mob to find out they were hiding. He forcefully picked up the phone and called Dr Manekshaw, who was a well known general practitioner of Vasant Vihar. Dr. Manekshaw was the younger brother of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw who led India to a victory in the Bangladesh war. He himself was a retired decorated air force officer who had served in the medical division.

Dr Maneshaw drove a distinct foreign car which was alien in those days of just Ambassadors and Fiats. It was a blue colored Corsair and could be recognized from a distance. Dr Manekshaw did not hesitate at all when he heard of Mr. Sethi’s condition. With no regard to his own safety, he lived up to the legacy of his family and that of an officers duty. He drove his car into the school premises through the very violent and threatening mob, to the senior staff residence in the rear of the campus.

Dr Manekshaw was a very imposing man, with a very solid persona. He challenged any rioter who came near him in his very distinct and brusque voice. They didn’t give him any problems.

Dr Manekshaw found his way to the Purohit residence and immediately started treating Mr. Sethi. In the meanwhile, the Hindu residents of the Munirka enclave flats on the other side of the open drain had realised something terrible was happening in the school. They quickly formed an action committee. This was primarily due to the efforts of one very strong willed Hindu woman named Nandita Haksar. Mrs. Haksar is now a very well known Indian human rights activist.

The action committee decided it was necessary to save the lives of the Sikhs trapped inside the campus. They with no concern to their own safety, walked across the open drain and into the school campus. They found a very haggard and distraught Mr. Purohit who was pleading with rioters to stay away. They told Mr. Purohit that they had come to help. Mr Purohit took them into his house where all the Sikhs were hiding. The action committee escorted all the Sikhs into the Munirka enclave area by taking them across the open drain and distributing them in each others houses for safe keeping until things cooled down.

Dr. Manekshaw had in the meanwhile laid the bleeding Mr. Sethi in the backseat of his car with the help of others. He covered him in blankets so that he was totally hidden from view. He then drove Mr. Sethi to a local Vasant Vihar hospital for further treatment where his life was saved.

The other Sikh families were now seemingly safe in the houses of the Hindus of Munirka. However this was a stronghold of Tokas, and his goons knew where they were hidden. They would pass their houses and shout about how they knew that Sikhs were hiding there. Fortunately though nothing untoward happened and the Sikhs were saved.

The school however was rampaged and pillaged. Other locals who wanted free loot also joined in. A person I met many years after the incident told me how he got some free cricket bats. Our Physics teacher Mr. Salamatullah Hashmi, who was a Muslim and lived in the neighboring colony of R.K. Puram, came the next day to find out if people were safe. He asked a policeman standing outside if everybody was okay. The policeman smilingly told him in crisp Hindi “Sardar saare chale gaye, lekin abhi bhi bahut samaan hai. Jo kuchh laina hai, jaldi se laylo” (All the Sikhs have gone, but there is still a lot of loot left. Take what you want quickly).

I visited the school about a week after the incident. By then the city was under army rule and the Sikh residents had returned to whatever was left of their premises. I was shocked by what I saw. Everything I had taken for granted was gone. The place where I studied was destroyed and looted. It was a horrible site.

In retrospect I feel that we Sikhs have never really expressed gratitude for those that helped us. Not all people are bad. It is times that make people bad, and all of us are as guilty as others for letting our emotions be carried away by the hate of the times. Even then, in those times of hate, there are people like Mr. Purohit, Dr. Manekshaw, and the Hindu residents of Munirka, who do what is right at risk to their own lives. Perhaps we should at times take moments to reflect on some of the good things that happened during those troubled times, rather then always focusing on the negativity of the bad things.

Things will not be complete if I tell what happened afterward. The government ordered that all repair work of Sikh institutions were to to be carried out at government expense by the D.D.A. (Delhi Development Authority). The school reopened after a month, but the effects and scars were still visible. Dr Singha remained principal for a few more years after which he took up the prestigious position of Chairman of C.B.S.E. (Central Board of Secondary Education). He passed away in a bathroom incident a few years ago. Mr Purohit a few years later took the position of Principal of Mother’s International School. Mr Grewal became principal of a school in Ludhiana. Sukhdeep Singh is still the schools sport teacher last I heard. Mr Sethi survived the attack, but died of a heart attack a few years later. His son, and my close friend Jasjit is now the CEO of a global transport company in Gurgaon.

Mahesh Tokas remained a Congress councilperson for many years. The Tokas family is still a powerful family of Munirka. Arjun Das was assassinated by Sikh militants the following year. The over thee thousand Sikhs who did die in the communal carnage, have till date not received any justice from the Indian government. The guilty behind these crimes have either passed on or still roam free.

I have written all this for posterity, in the hope that people do not forget these events as we are all lost in the confusion and stress of our own lives. Hopefully someday we can search ourselves for unspoken answers and find closure to the anguish and anger we feel inside.