1984 Anti-Sikh Riots: Saw Jagdish Tytler Instigating Mob to Kill Sikhs, Eyewitness to Court

Harpal Kaur Bedi, a 70-year-old eyewitness, deposed before Special Judge Jitendra Singh of Rouse Avenue Court stating she saw Tytler arrive in a white Ambassador car on November 1, 1984, outside the Gurdwara Pul Bangash in North Delhi and allegedly incite the mob to “loot and kill Sikhs”.

“Accused Jagdish Tytler and three others came out of the car. He addressed the mob, saying: ‘Sikho ko maro-kuto, unhone hamari maa ko maara hai’,” Bedi told the Court.

She added that she had remained silent for decades fearing for the safety of her only son, but named Tytler for the first time in March 2016 after her son’s death in 2015. “Now, I don’t have any fear and have stated the truth to the CBI and the Court,” she said.

The CBI had filed a charge sheet against Tytler on May 20, 2023, alleging that he incited the mob that torched the Pul Bangash Gurdwara, leading to the deaths of Thakur Singh, Badal Singh, and Gurcharan Singh.

Bedi gave a chilling account of the killings. “The mob broke into Tilak Raj’s house, dragged out Gurcharan Singh Channi and Ragi Badal Singh, hacked them with weapons, threw them from the roof, dumped them in a cart, and then into the burning Gurdwara with tyres on them,” she recounted.

She also described how her husband’s shop was looted, and how the mob mistook Channi, who was wearing her husband’s clothes, for her husband and tried to kill him.

During cross-examination, Bedi acknowledged not naming Tytler until 2016 but attributed the delay to threats made against her son. “It is true that neither I nor my husband named him until 2008... I first named him in 2016 after my son died,” she said.

Tytler’s counsel challenged her evolving testimony and suggested she altered her statement under influence, which she denied. “My later version, where I said Tytler came out of the car and incited the mob, is the correct version,” she affirmed.