Palam Colony

Palam Colony is a residential area of Delhi in the Delhi Cantonment police station area. Its localities include Raj Nagar and Sadh Nagar. Raj Nagar and Palam Colony were the scene of the Cantonment Area massacre of 1 and 2 November 1984, which has its own page; this page records what the inquiries and courts later said about the place.

What the Nanavati Commission recorded

• For the Delhi Cantonment police station area, the police record counted 246 Sikhs killed between 31 October and 5 November 1984, the Carnage Justice Committee 426 and the Ahuja Committee 341. The police counted 6 gurdwaras, 385 houses, 110 shops and 45 vehicles burnt. About 150 complaints were made, but only five FIRs were recorded (pp. 59, 163 to 164).
• The Nanavati Commission of Inquiry heard residents of Raj Nagar, Sadh Nagar and Mahavir Enclave. Joginder Singh of Raj Nagar said that at about 7 am on 1 November a mob led by Balwan Khokkar and Kishan Khokkar burnt the gurdwara and began killing Sikhs, and that about two hours later a police van took kirpans from the Sikhs (p. 61).
• Affidavits from residents of Raj Nagar named Balwan Khokhar as leading the mobs that attacked their houses, and several named Sajjan Kumar, then the local MP, as present or giving directions. The Commission found credible material that both were probably involved, and asked that FIR 416 of Delhi Cantonment police station, closed as untraced, be re-examined (pp. 159 to 162).
• It found that policemen in some localities of Delhi Cantonment had stayed passive as spectators or had actively instigated or helped the mobs (p. 163).

The cases

• 4 November 1984: FIR 416/1984 was registered at Delhi Cantonment police station on the complaint of Baljit Kaur, whose father Avtar Singh had been killed on 1 November. A composite chargesheet followed on 25 March 1985, and in October 1986 a sessions court acquitted two accused in his killing (Delhi High Court, 11 August 2025, paragraphs 3 to 12).
• 2005: after the Nanavati report, the CBI registered a case against Sajjan Kumar over the Raj Nagar killings, although the Delhi Police had earlier filed a closure report. The CBI chargesheeted him on 13 January 2010, and in April 2013 the trial court acquitted him while convicting five others (ThePrint).
• 17 December 2018: the Delhi High Court convicted Sajjan Kumar and sentenced him to life imprisonment (Al Jazeera).
• 11 August 2025: reviewing the 1986 acquittal on its own motion, the High Court recorded that both accused had died, so only compensation remained. It held that the victim compensation law applies only from its start, gave no further sum to Baljit Kaur, who had received Rs 11,90,000 in government payments, and said other victims not yet compensated could lodge claims (paragraphs 13 to 15, 50 to 52).

What it means today. Palam Colony is where the killings took place that led, 34 years later, to the conviction of a former MP.