H. S. Phoolka

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The fight for justice by the riot victims sent a message that the powerful and the mighty could be challenged and demolished. They were like a rock and riot victims were like ants trying to push the rock. Over the years, with our efforts, we have been able to force the rock to roll and now it rolls like a football the moment we come near it. If we stop in our efforts, it would again become stationary and grow into a mountain. [21]

Before the 1984 riots, there were no criminals in politics. Criminals just followed the politicians. But 1984 made them realise people leading mobs and killing others could get elected and become leaders......So a way was opened for criminals to make politics a profession. [6]

Book

Phoolka, along with human rights activist and journalist Manoj Mitta, has written the first account of the 1984 Anti-Sikh massacre in the form of a book titled When a Tree Shook Delhi. [31]

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References

  1. ↑ H S Phoolka is leader of opposition in Punjab assembly [ permanent dead link ]
  2. 1 2 Punjab's leader of Opposition H S Phoolka resigns, wants to help anti-Sikh riot victims
  3. ↑ "Judges have been a party to a cover-up". India Times (English Daily). Archived from the original on 2 January 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2008. He has been the force behind setting up of the Citizen's Justice Committee and has spearheaded one of the longest and most torturous legal battles for the riot victims.
  4. ↑ Warrier, K. Hari (20 October 1996). "Advocate of a just cause". The Pioneer. Twelve years ago, Phoolka was just another lawyer trying to find his feet in the legal jungle of Delhi. Then came assassination of Indira Gandhi, and the genocide of Sikhs in the capital. Phoolka himself did not suffer. But the event turned his life upside down, into a long crusade for the victims of the massacre against the entire system which allowed itself to be a silent witness of those gory days…
  5. 1 2 Mustafa, Seema (9 August 2005). "1984 Sikhs Massacres: Mother of All Cover-ups". Front page story. The Asian Age. p. 1.
  6. 1 2 3 Agal, Renu (11 August 2005). "Justice delayed, justice denied". BBC News.
  7. ↑ "Judges have been a party to a cover-up". India Times (English Daily). Archived from the original on 2 January 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2008. HKL Bhagat and Sajjan Kumar were very powerful those days. My wife gave me her full support though other member of my family had some apprehensions and said this is too dangerous a work. But my response was that if on October 31, 1984, I could pass through a burning gurdwara, this was certainly less dangerous. Slowly young boys and girls joined our team. They visited areas dominated by Sajjan Kumar and HKL Bhagat and worked day and night. We were getting threatening letters, but nobody got scared. Soli Sorabjee, Tarkunde and Sikri were there with us through all this.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Deb, Sandipan (October 1996). "Fifty Faces, A Million Reasons". Outlook (magazine, first anniversary special edition).
  9. ↑ "AAP releases its list of first 20 Candidates for Lok Sabha Polls 2014". IANS. news.biharprabha.com. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  10. ↑ Phoolka's resignation accepted by speaker
  11. 1 2 3 "Authors". SikhSpectrum Quarterly. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  12. ↑ "No justice for 84 carnage victims". The Statesman. 30 October 1998. Fourteen years after the November 1984 genocide that claimed, officially 2,733 Sikh lives in the capital, victims families continue to await compensation. Mr H S Phoolka, member-secretary of the Justice Narula Committee set up by Chief Minister, Mr. Madan Lal Khurana to probe the carnage in 1993, laments that 'not a single person' has been punished so far. Mr. Phoolka, who is the Central Government standing counsel in the High Court and convenor of Citizens Justice Committee set up after Indira Gandhi's murder in October 1984, suggested a one-man commission be constituted to decide cases where the government has rejected/disputed victims claims.
  13. 1 2 "Senior govt counsel quits". Indian Express (Newspaper). 13 February 2001.
  14. ↑ Warrier, K. Hari (20 October 1996). "Advocate of a just cause". The Pioneer. Apart from a conscience, Phoolka is also an unusual lawyer in that he doesn't take on a case if he feels that client is in the wrong
  15. ↑ "H.S. Phoolka to Join AAP". Outlook Magazine. 7 January 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  16. ↑ Doval, Nikita (11 March 2017). "Punjab election results: H.S. Phoolka wins Dakha seat, loses political hot seat". mint. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  17. ↑ IANS (15 March 2017). "AAP MLA H S Phoolka to be Leader of Opposition in Punjab". Business Standard India. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  18. ↑ "HS Phoolka resigns as leader of Opposition in Punjab assembly". Hindustan Times. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  19. ↑ "Turning Anna Movement Into Party Was Wrong: HS Phoolka After Quitting AAP". NDTV.com. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  20. ↑ John, Shobha (13 July 2003). "The X-Files: Where the mob goes scot free". The Economic Times.
  21. 1 2 3 Suryamurthy, R. (3 December 2001). "A lawyer obsessed with the rights of riot victims". The Tribune.
  22. 1 2 Warrier, K. Hari (20 October 1996). "Advocate of a just cause". The Pioneer. …if it were not for my wife, I would not have been able to do all this. She was the one who kept the house going when I didn't have a steady income. I refused a couple of good jobs in the US because I was not willing to abandon my work half-way
  23. ↑ "Judges have been a party to a cover-up". India Times (English Daily). Archived from the original on 2 January 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2008. (Where were you on October 31, 1984?) – Phoolka: I was at the High Court when I heard of Indira Gandhi's assassination. I picked up my pregnant wife from my office and was driving to out home in south Delhi on my motorbike. At a traffic crossing, a friend called to warn me about attacks on Sikhs a few meters ahead. Skirting the main roads, I drove through slum clusters of Kotla Mubarakpur to reach home safely. But looking back we could see smoke bellowing from the South Extension market. The Kotla gurdwara was burning and bodies of the head had begun to pile up.
  24. ↑ Warrier, K. Hari (20 October 1996). "Advocate of a just cause". The Pioneer. They were living in the first floor house in South Extension, one of the areas badly hit in the riots. His landlord told the invaders that the Phoolkas has left Delhi. He later took them into his house and hid them in the store room. A couple of days later, there was fire in the neighbouring house, and when the fire-fighters and Army personnel came in, the Phoolkas managed to escape with escort. "I didn't go to a relief camp. If I had I would have known at once what was going on.
  25. 1 2 "Justice Narula passes away". The Tribune (Chandigarh). 7 November 1985.
  26. ↑ "Judicial inquiry into November 1984 riots". BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. The Press Trust of India. 31 July 1985.
  27. ↑ Tenorio, Vyvyan (6 June 1986). "Victimized Sikhs await redress". Christian Science Monitor (Boston). p. 19.
  28. ↑ "1,50,000 visit website on '84 riots since launch on July 10". The Press Trust of India. 21 July 2001. p. 19.
  29. ↑ "Senior lawyer HS Phoolka joins AAP". IBNLive. 7 January 2014. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  30. ↑ "IndiaVotes; PC Ludhiana 2014".
  31. ↑ "Defamation suit: Tytler may depose in city court today". Indian Express. 11 September 2008.
Harvinder Singh Phoolka
H. S. Phoolka.jpg
Member of Punjab Legislative Assembly
In office
16 March 2017 –12 October 2018
National posts
Political Affairs Committee
National Executive Committee
Spokespersons
State wings
Current chief ministers
Current members of Parliament
Political wings
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