Kusum Lata Mittal Committee (Kapur-Mittal Committee)

What it was: On 23 February 1987, acting on the Misra Commission's recommendations, the Government of India appointed three committees. One, of Justice Dilip Kapoor, a retired Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, and Kusum Lata Mittal, a retired Secretary to the Government of India, was to inquire into the conduct of Delhi Police. The others examined the cases registered over the violence and counted the dead; R. K. Ahuja's count was 2,733 Sikhs killed in Delhi, reported on 1 June 1988 (Nanavati Commission report).

How it ended: The two members disagreed on method. Mittal wanted to examine only the records; Kapoor wanted to collect more material. They reported separately: Mittal on 28 February 1990, with a key on 1 March, and Kapoor on 1 March with a supplementary survey on 2 April. The Home Ministry found Kapoor's report a sort of sociological analysis that dealt in generalities and named no officer, and decided to act on Mittal's.

What it found: Mittal indicted 72 police officers. The Home Ministry was the disciplinary authority for 6, the Chief Secretary or Lieutenant Governor for 14, and the Commissioner of Police for 52. AllAboutSikhs's summary of her report says she recorded "criminal misconduct" by the station house officer at Trilokpuri, who made no effort to stop the mob, and cites wireless warnings of the Trilokpuri violence that reached the DCP of East Delhi, Sewa Dass, from the afternoon of 1 November. Sewa Dass said he knew nothing until 2 November.

What came of it (the Nanavati Commission's account)

• Of the 72, 13 had retired and 3 had died before action could start, and 12 were exonerated.
• A tribunal quashed one inquiry, one officer's pension was cut, and three cases were pending. The pension cut was 30 per cent for five years for Additional Commissioner H. C. Jatav.
• Of 39 non-gazetted officers, 35 were inquired into: 32 were exonerated, 2 censured and 1 warned. Inquiries against 4 were pending.
• The Delhi government began 25 criminal cases against some of the 72. The inquiry against Sewa Dass was delayed to 1998 by a Central Administrative Tribunal stay.

AllAboutSikhs concludes that hardly any of those indicted was punished, that many were promoted and some retired honourably, and that the indictment came to nothing. It adds that a court discharged the Trilokpuri officer for technical reasons, since the police had not obtained the sanction needed to prosecute.

Where it stands: The Committee has long since reported. The Nanavati Commission, notified on 8 May 2000, received from the Delhi Police a list of the cases registered on its recommendations.