Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 1 Oct: Ravindra Jugran, an eyewitness and victim of the infamous Rampur Tiraha incident of 2 October 1994, has expressed deep anguish over the fact that even after 31 years, justice has not been delivered.
He recalled that on the night of 1 October 1994, like thousands of Uttarakhand agitators, he too departed from Ghantaghar near Panchayati Mandir in Dehradun, for Delhi to attend a proposed rally. Around 7 p.m., all agitators were first stopped at Mohand in the name of checking, and, later, at Gurukul Narsan, where a fierce clash broke out between police and protestors. As the police force was small compared to the large number of agitators, the protestors pushed forward despite injuries, including himself.
At around 5 a.m. on 2 October, they reached Rampur Tiraha, where heavy barricading had been placed. They started a peaceful sit-in protest there. Suddenly, at around 7 a.m., the police resorted to lathi charge followed by indiscriminate firing. Jugran alleged that women were subjected to brutal atrocities, including rape and molestation, making it one of the darkest chapters in Indian democratic history.
Jugran said, “It has been 31 long years since this heinous massacre, yet justice remains elusive. India’s judicial system urgently needs reforms to ensure speedy justice.”
He added that their legal case is strong, as the CBI, National Commission for Women, and National Human Rights Commission had all submitted reports in their favour as early as 1996. Despite this, the victims are still waiting for justice.
“An entire generation has already passed away waiting for justice—now the second generation is waiting,” he lamented. He also questioned the role of successive governments, saying that 25 years of state governments have contributed nothing, and even the legislature has remained silent.
Jugran informed that he was a petitioner in the Allahabad High Court seeking justice in this case. In 2018, he filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) demanding fast-track justice, upon which the Chief Justice’s bench of the Allahabad High Court took cognizance and summoned all related case documents from the Muzaffarnagar court.
