1984: The Hondh-Chillar Massacre
Add comment November 2nd, 2020 Headsman
This was the date in 1984 of the Hondh-Chillar massacre
It was one of the many atrocities of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that ensued the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
Hondh today sits in ruins. Prior to November 2, 1984, it was a tiny dhani — basically a hamlet — outside a still-extant village known as Chillar in the northern state of Haryana.
On that dread day, a couple of hundred toughs trucked in by the Congress Party arrived at the dhani and set about sacking the settlement and brutalizing the Sikh inhabitants; at least 31 were beaten or burned to death over the course of several hours.
Surviving villagers eventually rallied to drive off the mob and escaped that night from their devastated homes.
Like other anti-Sikh vigilantism this horror has never been published, and allowed to languish into forgetfulness, as was the physical village itself. The place flashed in the news in 2011 when an engineer in nearby Gurgaon learned about the event accidentally and visited the site’s ruins, later posting heartbreaking photos to social media. That brought calls for reopening case files and preserving the site, none of which occurred; the engineer was forced out of his job a few weeks later, however.
On this day..
- 1675: Boyarina Morozova, Old Believer - 2019
- 1907: Afanasi Matushenko - 2018
- 1715: Seven at Tyburn - 2017
- 1803: Ludovicus Baekelandt, Vrijbos bandit - 2016
- 1483: Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham - 2015
- 82 BCE: The defeated populares of the Battle of the Colline Gate - 2014
- 1984: Velma Barfield, the first woman in the modern era - 2013
- 1801: James Legg, crucified ecorche - 2012
- 1972: Evelyn Anderson and Beatrice Kosin, missionaries - 2011
- 1920: James Daly, Connaught Rangers mutineer - 2010
- 1924: Ali Reshti and Sayyid Husain, to placate America - 2009
- 2001: Mona Fandey, witch doctor - 2008
- 1963: Ngo Dinh Diem - 2007
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Bludgeoned,Borderline "Executions",Burned,Cycle of Violence,Disfavored Minorities,History,India,Innocent Bystanders,Lynching,Mass Executions,No Formal Charge,Racial and Ethnic Minorities,Summary Executions
Tags: 1980s, 1984, 1984 anti-sikh riots, hondh, indira gandhi, november 2, racism, sikhs
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