It remains Canada’s worst case of terrorist mass murder, and indeed still one of the worst in the world.
Now, of the many alleged conspirators, the only one convicted, is being released on parole.
On June 23, 1985, a bomb placed aboard an Air India flight from Toronto-Montreal- London – New Delhi, blew apart the 747 in the skies over the ocean near Ireland.
The bombing killed 329 people, including 268 with Canadian nationality, 27 Britons, and 24 Indians. At the same time another bomb exploded inside Japan’s Narita airport killing two workers and injuring four others. That bomb was destined for another Air India flight, but exploded before it could be loaded as that flight had been delayed.
Canadian police traced the bombings to a Sikh militant group in British Columbia, and was thought to be in retaliation for an Indian government operation against Sikh militants occupying the “Golden Temple” in Amritsar, in the Punjab, India.
Several people were rounded up by the police and charges laid, but due to bungling by the police, there was only one conviction. Inderjit Singh Reyat was found to have bought the dynamite, detonators and the batteries for the bombs. He eventually made a plea bargain for his own crime and admitted to manslaughter charges, but then in 2006 lied in testimony against alleged co-conspirators , Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were acquitted.
Reyat, who served two sentences for manslaughter for the two bombings, was later additionally convicted in 2010 of perjury.in those cases
Now having served two-thirds of his perjury sentence, he has reached mandatory parole and will be released to a half-way house under strict conditions.
For the families of the killed, “punishment for a lifetime”
Bal Bupta lost his wife in the Air India bombing. He is now president of the Air India Families Association. Quoted by the Canadian Press, he says, “”Twenty-nine families were completely wiped out — husband, wife, children, they were all gone. Seven couples lost all their children, and some of them are now in their late 60s or even early 70s. He’ll be back with his family but for those people it’s a punishment for a lifetime.”
CBC NEWS REPORT ON 20th Anniversary of the tragedy
However, although obliged under Canadian law to release him, the courts do so reluctantly. A pyshcological assessment n 2013 said he lacks empathy and remorse for the victims, and the parole board believes that ties to the group that caused the deaths “have not been terminated”.
The board also said that he maintained the lies told in court in 2003 “as recently as mid 2013”.
For the families of the dead, the release of one of the conspirators and the fact that he has maintained his silence on all others involved, can only bring back painful memories of their loss.
Additional information-sources
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.