Hondh-Chillar massacre
Encyclopedia
The Hondh-Chillar massacre ( hɔ́nd tʃɪlːəɾ kə̀lːuɡɑ̀ɾɑ) refers to the killings of at least 32 Sikhs on November 2, 1984 in a village in the Rewari district
of Haryana
, by the Indian National Congress
as part of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms. The local police did not intervene in the massacre, pursue a First information report
filed by survivors or help resettle the survivors. The mass graves at the massacre were rediscovered in January 2011. A similar massacre occurred in nearby Pataudi
.
, Hondh village was settled by 16 families who migrated from Pakistan
. Hondh was a "dhani", or cluster of farmhouses, outside the main village of Chillar. The families were influential and prior to the massacre the Sarpanch
, or mayor, of Chillar had been one of the residents of Hondh.
In the 1970s, during the Indian Emergency, thousands of Sikhs campaigning for autonomous government were imprisoned. In 1984, during an Indian Army
assault called Operation Bluestar, thousands of innocent Sikhs were killed in the Golden Temple and the Sikh Reference Library
was burned. After the October 1984 Assassination of Indira Gandhi, thousands of Sikhs were killed in the 1984 Anti-Sikh pogroms by Indian National Congress mobs being aided by government officials who provided "trucks and state busses" as well as "weapons-including oil, kerosene, and other flammable materials".
s, diesel, kerosene, and matches as well as chanting slogans in favor of the Congress (I) party. For four hours the Congress members mob beat to death and burned alive 31 Sikh villagers. They continued to burn down the Sikhs' bungalows and Gurdwara
until the villagers who were able to escape the initial attack tried to find shelter in three different houses. The mob then set two of the houses on fire by pouring kerosene through the roof. One villager, Balwant Singh, retaliated by killing one of the rioters with a sword and another group of villagers ran out of their burning house to fight back. Once the villagers started fighting back the massacre "came to an abrupt halt".
On the night of November 2, the 32 surviving Sikhs found shelter in the house of a Hindu family in Dhanora, a nearby village. Under the cover of night they escaped to Rewari
in a tractor trolley. Once the villagers started fighting back the massacre "came to an abrupt halt". The survivors now reside in Ludhiana and Bathinda in Punjab
A FIR
was filed by Dhanpat Singh, the then sarpanch
, or mayor, of Chillar at police station Jatusana in Mahendragarh district
, which is now in Rewari district
. It reveals the killers first came from Hali Mandi around 11 AM but were persuaded by the villagers to turn around. When they came in the evening they had several more trucks of reinforcements and a group of three Hindus had tried to persuade the killers to leave the village but were intimidated into leaving. It reports that 20 of the dead Sikh villagers' bodies were burned beyond recognition.
On February 23, 2011, the local police claimed to have lost the First information report, however The Times of India
was able to find a signed copy of the report which had been obtained from the same police station just days earlier.
set fire to Pataudi
's Gurdwara
which created a panic in the city. As the armed mob rampaged through the town and set fire to Sikh homes in the city, one group of Sikhs escaped to the outskirts while another found shelter in local Hindu
Ashram
.
On November 2, the Sikhs returned to the city to see the damage done to their homes. Left tired and crying in front of their homes, they became separated from each other, and at 10 AM the mob returned and began burning people alive. Many of the Sikhs were able to escape but the Congress mob captured 17 of them, murdered them, and burned their remains to remove evidence.
Although the survivors filed multiple FIRs with the police, none of the assailants were captured or prosecuted. After the massacre many Sikh families fled and only five families remain out of thirty that were settled prior to the massacre.
, Haryana
, Manwinder Singh Giaspur, struck up a conversation with a delivery boy who talked about a "deserted village of Sardars" near his own village. When the boy began talking about arson
, Giaspur realized he was talking about the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms. The boy further told him that recently people had begun to steal wood and bricks from the site so on January 23 Giaspur drove to Chillar and found the site of the massacre. After seeing bones inside a building and quotations from the Guru Granth Sahib
on the walls he realized the building was a Gurdwara
. Giaspur then uploaded "50-60" pictures of the village onto Facebook
and sent appeals to various Punjabi language
newspapers to investigate and preserve the site. After not receiving help from the SGPC, Giaspur contacted the All India Sikh Students Federation
and Sikhs for Justice. On March 13, the man who discovered the site of the massacre was asked to resign from his position as general manager
of V&S International Pvt Ltd, allegedly for his role in exposing the massacre.
Dal Khalsa (International) is attempting to appeal to United Nations
officials in Delhi
to send a team to investigate. The American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee organized a meeting with the US State Department to discuss related human rights violations and legal action.
Sikhs for Justice has maintained that the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms were an organized attempt at genocide and that government commissions set up to investigate them have purposely not investigated violence outside of Delhi
to cover up systematic patterns of violence against Sikhs throughout India. In response to this discovery the AISSF and Sikhs for Justice have established a trust to find other sites like Hondh-Chillar throughout India.
On March 4, an Ardās
was held at the Akal Takht
for the victims of the massacre.
On March 12, Sikhs for Justice met with UNESCO
director general Irina Bokova
in New York to discuss preserving the ruins as a heritage site. They also consulted with archeologists who had worked on Holocaust and Armenian genocide
sites for advice.
Rewari District
Rewari district is one of the 21 districts of Haryana state, India. The administrative headquarters of this district, Rewari city is the biggest city in this district. It is located in southern Haryana...
of Haryana
Haryana
Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...
, by the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
as part of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms. The local police did not intervene in the massacre, pursue a First information report
First Information Report
A First Information Report or FIR is a written document prepared by the police in India, Pakistan and Japan when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable offence. It is a report of information that reaches the police first in point of time and that is why it is called the First...
filed by survivors or help resettle the survivors. The mass graves at the massacre were rediscovered in January 2011. A similar massacre occurred in nearby Pataudi
Pataudi
Pataudi is a town in Gurgaon district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is located from Gurgaon, at the foot hills of the Aravali hills.Pataudi was the seat of Pataudi State which was ruled by the Nawabs of Pataudi. The 8th Nawab, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, played cricket for both England and...
.
Background
During the Partition of IndiaPartition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
, Hondh village was settled by 16 families who migrated from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Hondh was a "dhani", or cluster of farmhouses, outside the main village of Chillar. The families were influential and prior to the massacre the Sarpanch
Sarpanch
A sarpanch is a democratically elected head of a village level statutory institution of local self-government called the gram panchayat in India and Pakistan. He, together with other elected Panchas , constitute the Gram Panchayat. The Sarpanch is the focal point of contact between government...
, or mayor, of Chillar had been one of the residents of Hondh.
In the 1970s, during the Indian Emergency, thousands of Sikhs campaigning for autonomous government were imprisoned. In 1984, during an Indian Army
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
assault called Operation Bluestar, thousands of innocent Sikhs were killed in the Golden Temple and the Sikh Reference Library
Sikh Reference Library
The Sikh Reference Library was a repository of over 1,500 rare manuscripts located in the Golden Temple at Amritsar, Punjab which was destroyed during Operation Blue Star. In 1984, the library's contents were confiscated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the empty building allegedly burned...
was burned. After the October 1984 Assassination of Indira Gandhi, thousands of Sikhs were killed in the 1984 Anti-Sikh pogroms by Indian National Congress mobs being aided by government officials who provided "trucks and state busses" as well as "weapons-including oil, kerosene, and other flammable materials".
Hondh-Chillar massacre
The attack happened in two waves. On November 1, 1984 a group of Indian National Congress memberss attempted to storm the village but the Sikh villagers were able to fend them off. However, at 10 AM on November 2, a truck and a bus carrying "200-250" young men arrived at the village. They began attacking the Sikhs armed with rods, lathiLathi
Lathi means stick and also refers to an Indian martial art based on cane-fighting. The word is used in Hindi, Bengali and various other Indian languages. The lathi typically measures 6 to and may be tipped with metal. It commonly used as a crowd control device by the Indian Police and other South...
s, diesel, kerosene, and matches as well as chanting slogans in favor of the Congress (I) party. For four hours the Congress members mob beat to death and burned alive 31 Sikh villagers. They continued to burn down the Sikhs' bungalows and Gurdwara
Gurdwara
A Gurdwara , meaning the Gateway to the Guru, is the place of worship for Sikhs, the followers of Sikhism. A Gurdwara can be identified from a distance by tall flagpoles bearing the Nishan Sahib ....
until the villagers who were able to escape the initial attack tried to find shelter in three different houses. The mob then set two of the houses on fire by pouring kerosene through the roof. One villager, Balwant Singh, retaliated by killing one of the rioters with a sword and another group of villagers ran out of their burning house to fight back. Once the villagers started fighting back the massacre "came to an abrupt halt".
On the night of November 2, the 32 surviving Sikhs found shelter in the house of a Hindu family in Dhanora, a nearby village. Under the cover of night they escaped to Rewari
Rewari
Rewari is a city and a municipal council in Rewari district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is located in south-west Haryana around from Delhi and from Gurgaon.- Etymology :...
in a tractor trolley. Once the villagers started fighting back the massacre "came to an abrupt halt". The survivors now reside in Ludhiana and Bathinda in Punjab
A FIR
First Information Report
A First Information Report or FIR is a written document prepared by the police in India, Pakistan and Japan when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable offence. It is a report of information that reaches the police first in point of time and that is why it is called the First...
was filed by Dhanpat Singh, the then sarpanch
Sarpanch
A sarpanch is a democratically elected head of a village level statutory institution of local self-government called the gram panchayat in India and Pakistan. He, together with other elected Panchas , constitute the Gram Panchayat. The Sarpanch is the focal point of contact between government...
, or mayor, of Chillar at police station Jatusana in Mahendragarh district
Mahendragarh District
Mahendragarh district is one of the 21 districts of Haryana state in northern India. The district occupies an area of 1,859 km². The district has a population of 812,022. Narnaul town is the administrative headquarters of the district...
, which is now in Rewari district
Rewari District
Rewari district is one of the 21 districts of Haryana state, India. The administrative headquarters of this district, Rewari city is the biggest city in this district. It is located in southern Haryana...
. It reveals the killers first came from Hali Mandi around 11 AM but were persuaded by the villagers to turn around. When they came in the evening they had several more trucks of reinforcements and a group of three Hindus had tried to persuade the killers to leave the village but were intimidated into leaving. It reports that 20 of the dead Sikh villagers' bodies were burned beyond recognition.
On February 23, 2011, the local police claimed to have lost the First information report, however The Times of India
The Times of India
The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...
was able to find a signed copy of the report which had been obtained from the same police station just days earlier.
Pataudi massacre
At 6 PM on November 1, 1984 after Indira Gandhi was shot, a mob under the guidance of Congress leader Lalit MakenLalit Maken
Lalit Maken was a member of Parliament of India, a political leader of Indian National Congress and a labour union leader. Maken was the son-in-law of late President of India Mr. Shankar Dayal Sharma....
set fire to Pataudi
Pataudi
Pataudi is a town in Gurgaon district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is located from Gurgaon, at the foot hills of the Aravali hills.Pataudi was the seat of Pataudi State which was ruled by the Nawabs of Pataudi. The 8th Nawab, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, played cricket for both England and...
's Gurdwara
Gurdwara
A Gurdwara , meaning the Gateway to the Guru, is the place of worship for Sikhs, the followers of Sikhism. A Gurdwara can be identified from a distance by tall flagpoles bearing the Nishan Sahib ....
which created a panic in the city. As the armed mob rampaged through the town and set fire to Sikh homes in the city, one group of Sikhs escaped to the outskirts while another found shelter in local Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
Ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
.
On November 2, the Sikhs returned to the city to see the damage done to their homes. Left tired and crying in front of their homes, they became separated from each other, and at 10 AM the mob returned and began burning people alive. Many of the Sikhs were able to escape but the Congress mob captured 17 of them, murdered them, and burned their remains to remove evidence.
Although the survivors filed multiple FIRs with the police, none of the assailants were captured or prosecuted. After the massacre many Sikh families fled and only five families remain out of thirty that were settled prior to the massacre.
Persons killed in Pataudi massacre
Here is list of 17 persons killed during attacks on Sikhs at Pataudi (Near Hondh-Chillar) Haryana:- Kishan Singh (Husband of Geevni Bai)
- Kapur Singh (Son of Geevni Bai)
- Kuldip Singh (Son of Geevni Bai)
- Harbahajan Singh son of Geevni Bai)
- Harnam Singh (Husband of Isri Bai)
- Avtar Singh (Son of Isri Bai)
- Harmeet Kaur (Daughter of Gian Singh)
- Karamjeet Kaur (Daughter of Gian Singh)
- Gurbaksh Singh (Son of Gian Singh)
- Amrik Singh (Husband of Amrit Kaur)
- Fateh Singh (Son of Kirpal Singh)
- Arjun Singh (Son of Mohinder Singh)
- Bhagat Singh (Son of Mohinder Singh)
- Gopal Singh (Son of Inder Singh)
- Surjit Singh
- Kamaljeet Kaur
- Granthi of Gurudwara
Rediscovery
On January 22, 2011, an engineer in GurgaonGurgaon
Gurgaon is the second largest city in the Indian state of Haryana. Gurgaon is the industrial and financial center of Haryana. It is located 30 km south of national capital New Delhi, about 10 kilometers from Dwarka Sub City and 268 km south of Chandigarh, the state capital...
, Haryana
Haryana
Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...
, Manwinder Singh Giaspur, struck up a conversation with a delivery boy who talked about a "deserted village of Sardars" near his own village. When the boy began talking about arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
, Giaspur realized he was talking about the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms. The boy further told him that recently people had begun to steal wood and bricks from the site so on January 23 Giaspur drove to Chillar and found the site of the massacre. After seeing bones inside a building and quotations from the Guru Granth Sahib
Guru Granth Sahib
Sri Guru Granth Sahib , or Adi Granth, is the religious text of Sikhism. It is the final and eternal guru of the Sikhs. It is a voluminous text of 1430 angs, compiled and composed during the period of Sikh gurus, from 1469 to 1708...
on the walls he realized the building was a Gurdwara
Gurdwara
A Gurdwara , meaning the Gateway to the Guru, is the place of worship for Sikhs, the followers of Sikhism. A Gurdwara can be identified from a distance by tall flagpoles bearing the Nishan Sahib ....
. Giaspur then uploaded "50-60" pictures of the village onto Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and sent appeals to various Punjabi language
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
newspapers to investigate and preserve the site. After not receiving help from the SGPC, Giaspur contacted the All India Sikh Students Federation
All India Sikh Students Federation
The Sikh Students Federation, formerly the All India Sikh Students Federation, is a Sikh students' union and political organisation in India...
and Sikhs for Justice. On March 13, the man who discovered the site of the massacre was asked to resign from his position as general manager
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
of V&S International Pvt Ltd, allegedly for his role in exposing the massacre.
Reactions
On March 2, 2011 members of Akali Dal, the main Sikh political party in India, demanded that the Lok Sobha, India's parliament, form a probe to look into the massacre.Dal Khalsa (International) is attempting to appeal to United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
officials in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
to send a team to investigate. The American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee organized a meeting with the US State Department to discuss related human rights violations and legal action.
Sikhs for Justice has maintained that the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms were an organized attempt at genocide and that government commissions set up to investigate them have purposely not investigated violence outside of Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
to cover up systematic patterns of violence against Sikhs throughout India. In response to this discovery the AISSF and Sikhs for Justice have established a trust to find other sites like Hondh-Chillar throughout India.
On March 4, an Ardās
Ardas
The Ardās is a Sikh prayer that is done before performing or after undertaking any significant task; after reciting the daily Banis ; or completion of a service like the Paath , kirtan program or any other religious program. In Sikhism, these prayers are also said before and after eating...
was held at the Akal Takht
Akal Takht
The Akal Takht of the Timeless One or Seat of God. It is one of the five seats of temporal authority of the Sikhs equivalent to any parliament of world sovereign country. Akal means The Timeless One - another term for God. Takht means 'seat' or 'throne' in Persian...
for the victims of the massacre.
On March 12, Sikhs for Justice met with UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
director general Irina Bokova
Irina Bokova
Irina Georgieva Bokova is a Bulgarian politician, incumbent Directors-General of UNESCO. She was member of the Bulgarian Parliament from the Bulgarian Socialist Party for two terms, minister and deputy minister of foreign affairs in the socialist cabinet of Prime Minister Zhan Videnov, and was...
in New York to discuss preserving the ruins as a heritage site. They also consulted with archeologists who had worked on Holocaust and Armenian genocide
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
sites for advice.
External links
- Recent News Updates on Hondh Massacre from SikhSiyasat.Net