Sandeep Singh

My name is Sandeep Singh. I was about three years old when Indira Gandhi died. I was living in Delhi with my family. We had two stories house. I was standing with my parents in the balcony on the second story. All streets were empty but we could clearly hear the anti-Sikh voices being raised by Hindu mobs. My uncle and auntie came over to our house. My uncle and my family were very religious. All were true Gursikhs. My uncle came to our house and told us that a Hindu barber in the bazaar told him to cut his hair by saying “Sardar Ji, baal kata lao”. My uncle was mad and this outraged my dad too. My father then went to that barber and asked him what he had said that. My father had known him for a long time so he didn’t try to show his anger. That barber said that they received secret orders from the government officials to kill the Sikhs and they had received list of Sikh residents in our colony. Our house was in that list too. My father and uncle quickly ran back to our house and told us all to leave.

We all got scared and started to pack up. Just then we saw one Sikh passing through the street on a scooter. In the next corner he was stopped by Hindus. His turban was taken off and tied his hand behind with it. The spare tire was put around his neck and mobs took out petrol out of the scooter and poured it over him. He was crying and telling the Hindus to let him go because he was innocent but in return he was hit by rods and sticks. One guy lit a match and threw it on that Sikh and burnt him alive. This terrified all of us. We went to our neighbor’s house who was a Bengali to hide there. We stayed in the basement for few days and he secretly provided us with food and everything else. He informed us that our house had been burnt down.