Traumatised family leaves home, ‘first time after 1984 riots’
It’s been over 30 years since the anti-Sikh riots scarred
the country. It’s been over 30 years since this mother, and her two children,
were last seen by neighbours outside their house in Moga. On Wednesday, local police had to finally use a ladder to
enter the house and forcibly shift Nirmal Kaur, her daughter
Kamaljeet and son Inderpal Singh to a mental asylum in Amritsar. As she walked out from her home in New Town,
Kamaljeet had a small sword in hand, and warned policemen that
she would kill them if they touched her.
This bizarre climax was the result of a petition filed in a
local court by Nirmal’s husband, Joginder Singh Bedi, a retired railways
employee who said that hisfamily had been left traumatised and
mentally unstable by the riots, and needed treatment.
Iqbal Singh, SHO at the local station, confirmed
that the three had been moved out following orders from Chief Judicial
Magistrate Puja Agnihotri and shifted to Amritsar based on recommendations from
doctors at the local Civil Hospital. Singh added that the neighbours had told police that they
had not seen the three stepping outside the house ever since the
riots first broke out.
Bedi, in his 70s, said in the petition that when the riots
broke out in 1984, he was posted in Allahabad, and had left his family at
the home of his brother-in-law who was an NRI. He added that he used to visit them regularly and
provide money for household expenses but his wife and children refused to step
out, fearing that they would be killed. Bedi said that he hoped the situation would stabilise after
the riots but added that it only deteriorated. When he returned to stay with
them after his retirement four years ago, he said his wife did not allow him to
enter the house.
“In initial years after the 1984 riots, my wife used to
at least talk normally but her condition deteriorated. She refused to
move out of our home. At that time I used to visit them once a month
from Allahabad. But when I returned for good, I was shocked that she did
not allow me to live with them. I moved to another house but
visited them once a week with rations and other items they asked for,” said
Bedi. According to him, the power supply to the house has
been disconnected for over four years now. “I never got copies of the bill and
I was also denied entry to my home,” he added. Last year, he finally decided to file that petition in
court.
On Wednesday, Bedi broke down as he watched his wife and
children being taken away
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