Delhi 1984: Memories of a Massacre (BBC)
"Nearly 3,000 members of India's Sikh community were massacred after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards on 31 October 1984. Rahul Bedi, one of the first journalists to reach the affected areas in the capital, Delhi, recalls events.
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"Soon after news of Mrs Gandhi's killing by her Sikh bodyguards spread, Hindu mobs swung into action—like they did elsewhere in the city armed with voters' lists—in Trilokpuri against the low-caste Sikhs inhabiting one-roomed tenements on either side of two narrow alleyways barely 150 yards long.
"With local police connivance they blocked entry to the neighbourhood with massive concrete water pipes and stationed guards armed with sticks atop them.
"For the next three days marauding groups armed with cleavers, scythes, kitchen knives and scissors took breaks to eat and regroup in between executing their bloodthirsty mission.
"When as a reporter then with the Indian Express newspaper I along with two other colleagues visited the area on the eve of Mrs Gandhi' funeral, both lanes were littered with bodies, body parts and hair brutally hacked off, forcing us to walk precariously on tip-toe.
"It was impossible to place one's foot flat on the ground for fear of stepping on either a severed limb or a body."
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