Ahuja Committee

The Ahuja Committee, spelled Ahooja in its own report, was a committee of one: R.K. Ahooja, Home Secretary of the Delhi Administration. The Administrator of Delhi appointed it by an order dated 23 February 1987 to fix the final number of people killed in the Union Territory of Delhi between 31 October and 7 November 1984, and to recommend payments to the next of kin. It was told to report within three months and reported in August 1987. Its figure, 2,733, is still the Indian government's official count for Delhi.

Why it was set up: The Misra Commission had not fixed a number. It had before it a Citizens Justice Committee list of 3,949 names (3,874 after correcting duplicates and arithmetic) and a Delhi Administration admission of 2,307. Justice Misra said the true figure lay somewhere between the two, and recommended that an officer be appointed to settle it after a public notice inviting claims. The government accepted that, and the task went to the Home Secretary.

How it counted:

• Public notices in English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi ran in 17 newspapers, with a closing date of 10 April 1987. Claims kept arriving to the end of April and were all counted. The notice also asked for proof of anyone killed during a train or bus journey inside Delhi.
• The committee received claims for 1,767 deaths. After removing 62 duplicates it had 1,705, and found that almost all were already on the Relief Commissioner's list or the police list.
• Only 110 cases were new. Of those, 52 were verified.
• The total: 2,401 from the Relief Commissioner's list, plus 280 names from the Citizens Justice Committee list that the police verified on the spot, plus 52 new cases, making 2,733. The report called this “the authentic figure”, though it allowed that an odd case might still come to light.

What it recommended: the same compensation for 345 further cases it found eligible, government jobs for the roughly 300 widows still without work, a pension of Rs 500 a month for widows over 55, a small stipend for the children of those killed, and that the Relief Commissioner's work should continue.

How the figure is contested: The 1984 Sikh Archive says the Ahuja count “would prove to be an understatement” and that it overlooked attacks on trains, buses and in taxis, and killings outside Delhi such as at Kanpur and Bokaro. It quotes Romesh Thapar of Seminar at 6,000 to 8,000 dead in Delhi alone, and Khushwant Singh saying 10,000 Sikhs killed, more than half in the capital, would not be an exaggeration. Wikipedia gives independent estimates of 8,000 to 17,000 across India.