‘We are paying for being Indians’
A Canadian court on March 16 acquitted Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were accused of planting a bomb on Kanishka, an Air-India aircraft, in 1985. The verdict has come as a shock to families of the 329 people killed in the disaster. Amarjit Bhinder, widow of Satinder Singh Bhinder, the co-pilot of Kanishka, spoke to Priyanka Gill about the judgement. Excerpts:
What do you think of the verdict? Did the Canadian police do enough to ensure that that the accused were convicted? Are you satisfied with the role Air-India and the Indian government played in the case? Apart from the investigation, has Air-India been supportive to the families of the victims? Are the affected families doing something to make sure that the culprits are caught and convicted? Do you think the police would have taken this long to prosecute the accused if the case involved a Canadian airliner and Canadian citizens?
The verdict is shocking to each and every family member of the victims. It has shattered our faith in the Canadian justice system.
When the case began two years ago, we thought the Canadian authorities had enough evidence to arrest and punish Malik and Bagri. Otherwise what was the need to arrest them after such a long time? The verdict is the outcome of gross lapses on the part of the investigating authorities in Canada who took 20 years to investigate and collect information.
No. We, the family members of the victims, do not have any information about what Air-India and the Indian government did to solve the case. Nobody from Air-India or the government ever came to us to explain anything about the circumstances or the findings.
Since his childhood it was my son’s dream to become a pilot with Air-India just like his father. I financed his commercial pilot licence with great difficulty and then applied to Air-India and the minister for civil aviation. I received a reply from Director (Operations) saying “there has been no precedence to give the pilot’s job on compassionate grounds”. I wanted to tell the director that there has never been a precedence like the Kanishka crash. It was such an easy reply on their behalf with no consideration towards the circumstances under which my husband lost his life while on duty.
Yes, we have made statements to the Canadian media for a re-investigation. We have two questions. If Malik and Bagri have not done it, who has? Second, isn’t it the duty of the Canadian government to find and punish the guilty as the flight originated from Canada? It could not have been as difficult immediately after the crash as it is now after 20 years. Going back to the travel agency that issued those tickets against which the two suitcases were loaded in Vancouver couldn’t have been difficult immediately after the crash. Why didn’t they do it ?
If the same happened to a Canadian airliner, justice would have been more prompt. We all feel very strongly that there has been a delay only because most of us are Indians. This is the price we have to pay not only in another country but sadly in our own country as well.
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