An elderly Sikh woman with a placard in the protest rally. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur/Ranchi, Aug. 14: Over 500 Sikhs, including women and children, took to the streets in a silent march in protest against the exclusion of the state in the recommendations of the Nanavati Commission?s report on the 1984 riots.

The march was led by local BJP MLA Saryu Rai.

The delegation was a protest against the fact that none of the places in Jharkhand have been included in the list of places where probes would be conducted on the basis of recommendations the Nanavati report and alleged that justice, in the report, has been completely ignored and is a complete sham.

The protesters also demanded that the state government should formulate a special package for the rehabilitation of the Sikh families who lost their loved ones and property during the violence that erupted in the different places of Jharkhand following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

In two separate memorandums, one addressed to the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and the other to chief minister Arjun Munda, the delegation appealed for an expansion of the ambit of the fresh probe and do justice to the grievances of the hundreds of Sikh families, who suffered during the riots.

The march commenced from the Sakchi Gurudwara around 10 in the morning, and culminated at East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Nitin Madan Kulkarni?s office.

President of Central Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee Shailendra Singh pointed out that a large number of families in different districts of the state, including Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Chas, Hazaribagh and Bokaro, lost their family members and property during the riots.

The delegation also demanded the identification of people involved in violence against the Sikhs and ensure that they are suitably punished according to the constitution.

In Ranchi, too, the Sikhs came out in protest against the alleged slack on the part of the central government in punishing the culprits of the 1984 Sikh riots. A strong crowd thronged at the Main Road Gurudwara sporting black turbans and clothes as a form of protest.

Gurvinder Singh Sethi, the general secretary of the Gurudwara Shreeguju Singh Sabha said the Centre had done injustice to the Sikh community. ?We are not at all satisfied with the report.?