[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 16, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E156-E157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       S.S. OSAN, DELHI MASSACRE VICTIM, DENIED JUSTICE BY INDIA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 16, 2000

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with yet another example of how 
India violates the basic human rights of its minorities and ignores the 
rule of law.
  Sukhbir Singh Osan is a journalist in Punjab. He has exposed many 
scandals and acts of tyranny on the part of the Indian government and 
the government of Punjab. His family suffered losses in the 1984 
massacre in Delhi, which were organized by government-inspired mobs 
while the Sikh police were locked in their barracks and the state-run 
TV and radio called for more Sikh blood. He has now filed suit for his 
rights as a 1984 riot victim.
  Sukhbir Singh Osan earned an LL.B. degree from Punjab University 
seven years ago but it is being withheld from him because he has 
exposed corruption and brutality. For his aggressive reporting, the 
Indian government has damaged his career in an arbitrary and vindictive 
manner.
  Mr. Osan's situation proves that in ``democratic'' India the law is 
subservient to the wishes of those in power. The people in power 
routinely violate the law for their own benefit. How can a country be a 
democracy when the government routinely subverts the rule of law?
  It is clear from the treatment of Mr. Osan and from so many other 
incidents involving the abuse of Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, and other 
minorities that the only way these minorities will secure their freedom 
to live in peace, dignity, and security is by achieving their freedom 
from India. In this light, it is appropriate for the United States to 
take action to protect the rights of the minority peoples of the 
subcontinent.
  If India cannot observe the rule of law even for a victim of the 1984 
Delhi massacres, then why should it receive any aid from the American 
taxpayers? We should stop that aid, subject India to the sanctions that 
their terrorist rule deserves, and throw the full weight of the U.S. 
Congress behind a free and fair, internationally-supervised plebiscite 
to decide the question of independence for Khalistan, Kashmir, 
Nagaland, and the other nations of South Asia.
  Until these things are done, there will continue to be others 
mistreated like Sukhbir Singh Osan, and worse. America is the beacon of 
freedom. How can we accept this?
  Mr. Speaker, I submit the Burning Punjab article on Mr. Osan's plight 
into the Record for the information of my colleagues.

                     [From the Burning Punjab News]

                Riots Ruined Family, Judiciary His Life

       Chandigarh--Sukhbir Singh Osan in a Civil Writ petition No. 
     14940 of 1999 filed in the Punjab & Haryana High Court has 
     pleaded that--``he became a `November 84 riot victim' neither 
     by his own act nor by birth since he was just 14 years old 
     when riots took place. He further pleaded that the failure of 
     the executive and the law & order situation and also the 
     failure of various provisions incorporated in the Indian 
     Constitution, after the assassination of the then Indian 
     Premier Indira Gandhi was the reason which placed him under 
     the category of `Sikh Migrant Family & Riot affected 
     person''. The petition has been fixed for hearing on November 
     15, 1999 before the Chief Justice Arun B. Saharia and Mr. 
     Justice Swatantar Kumar. Osan has demanded `justice' in this 
     petition.
       ``Punishing those who were responsible for riots in 
     November, 1984 and to grant certain concessions to the 
     victims of these riots are two different things?'', Sukhbir 
     Singh Osan has questioned the division bench of the High 
     Court. The petition elaborates, how a riot victim in Sukhbir 
     Singh Osan was harassed, his career was ruined in an 
     arbitrary and vindictive manner and that too right under the 
     nose of judiciary shows that justice in India is not a virtue 
     which transcends

[[Page E157]]

     all barriers. It also proves that law never bends before 
     justice on the land of Sri Guru Nanak Dev, Sri Guru Teg 
     Bahadar and Sri Guru Gobind Singh.
       Why Sukhbir Singh Osan's result/degree of LL.B. course is 
     being withheld by the Panjab University for the past about 
     seven years is a apathetic story because he in the capacity 
     of a journalist tried to expose corruption, high-handedness 
     and other irregularities at different levels in the 
     University affairs through his dispatches in a leading daily 
     during 1991.
       Narrating chronology of his `ordeal' Sukhbir Singh Osan in 
     a writ petition filed by him ``in-person'' in the Punjab and 
     Haryana High Court has said that in August, 1990 he was 
     granted admission in LL.B. course under the Riot affected 
     (November, 1984) category in the Department of Laws, Panjab 
     University, Chandigarh. Being a journalist he in good faith 
     published certain news items pertaining to nefarious 
     activities including corruption, high-handedness, moral 
     turpitude and other irregularities at different levels in the 
     university affairs. Smitten by a news-item, Sukhbir Singh was 
     asked by Dr. R.K. Bangia, Prof. & Chairman, Department of 
     Laws in a written communication on May 29, 1991 `to furnish 
     some authentic proof as evidence of the facts as stated by 
     you'' in the news-item ``Teen Hazaar Mein Uttirne Karva Date 
     Hain Kanoon Ki Pariksha'' otherwise strict action would be 
     taken against him. On September 30, 1991 in an arbitrary and 
     illegal manner his admission was cancelled when he was 
     studying in the 3rd semester of the LL.B. course, since Dr. 
     J.M. Jairath, Dr. R.K. Bangia and Dr. R.S. Grewal were got 
     annoyed due to news reports filed by S.S. Osan. Sukhbir Singh 
     Osan approached the Punjah & Haryana High Court against the 
     Panjab University, but the High Court relegate him for his 
     remedy to Civil Court. The Civil Court of Chandigarh after 
     four years of hectic activities of examining evidence and 
     witnesses termed the admission of Sukhbir Singh Osan as 
     genuine and according to law. The judge in his 27 page order 
     also declared Sukhbir Singh Osan as `November 84 riot 
     victim'. It was perhaps the first ever case in the history of 
     India and Indian judiciary, that a riot victim was asked to 
     prove that he is a `November 1984 Riot affected person' and 
     Sukhbir Singh Osan has proved the same in the civil court. 
     Here it is pertinent to mention that Sukhbir Singh Osan along 
     with his family migrated from Madhya Pradesh to Punjab in the 
     year 1985 after November 1984 anti-Sikh riot which broke 
     through out India after the assassination of the then Indian 
     premier Indira Gandhi. Such was the agony of Sukhbir Singh 
     Osan that he has to recall all those days, which his family 
     has suffered during 1984.
       The miserable plight of Sukhbir Singh Osan proves that in 
     India law and judiciary are not meant for those who obey them 
     but are subservient to those who outrage the modesty of the 
     very concept of law & justice and that too, in connivance of 
     those who are considered to be the custodian of law & 
     justice. Will the law of India be able to punish those who 
     have ruined the life of Sukhbir Singh Osan? Whither Indian 
     Judiciary?

     

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