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Turkman Gate incident
Turkman Gate incident
Part of The Emergency of 1975–1977
	An image of Turkman Gate
Date	31 May 1976; 48 years ago
Location	Turkman Gate, Old Delhi
Caused by	Political repression and police brutality
Goals	Demolition of Turkman Gate
Methods	Rioting, protests and demonstrations
Parties
Authority	Civilians
Government of India Delhi Police;	Residing people
Lead figures
	Sanjay Gandhi
Casualties
Death(s)	6 (Official); 8-20+ (Police source); 12(Independent researchers);

The Turkman gate demolition and subsequent massacre was an infamous case of political oppression and police brutality during the Emergency when, on 31 May 1976, residents of Old Delhi were killed by police while protesting a slum clearance.^[1] An official account of the number of people killed at Turkman gate is not available and a media blackout ensued in the wake of the massacre.^[2] One local guide claimed that nine of his friends were killed by the police.^[3] More than ten bulldozers razed illegal structures and homes, and protestors were fired upon by police.^[4]

Background

During the Emergency, Indira Gandhi's government, prompted by her son Sanjay, launched the demolition drive to clear the Delhi municipality of slums and force poor residents to leave Delhi and move to distant settlements. The residents of Turkman Gate refused to move as they had occupied this internal area of the walled city since the Mughal period and would have to commute every day, paying high bus fares, to reach the city and earn their living. They resisted the bulldozing of their houses. On 18 April 1976, the police opened fire on protesters, killing several of them. The government, which had earlier imposed censorship, ordered the press not to report the massacre. The Indian public learned of the killings through foreign media outlets, such as the BBC. It was later reported that protesters were run over by bulldozers, resulting in several deaths.^[4]

Total deaths

After the incident the police admitted to six deaths: Om Prakash, a CPI(ML) activist who led the rioting,^[5] and five Muslim residents of the locality. ASI Govind Ram Bhatia admitted to Shah Commission that eight individuals had actually been killed. Officer Rajesh Sharma, who had issued the firing order to the CRPF, claimed that at least 20 people died in the shooting.^[6] Independent researchers, John Dayal and Ajoy Bose, in their book on the Emergency in Delhi, put the death toll at 12.^[7]

References

Citations

^ "May 31, 1978, Forty Years Ago: Turkman Gate Report". The Indian Express. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
^ Talukdar, Sreemoy (27 June 2018). "Comparing Modi regime with Indira's Emergency is nonsense; it dilutes the horrors of Indian democracy's darkest chapter". website. Linked in. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
^ Raza, Danish (29 June 2015). "Tragedy at Turkman Gate: Witnesses recount horror of Emergency". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
^ ^a ^b John Dayal, Ajay Bose (26 June 2015). "The Khooni Kissa of Turkman Gate". The wire newspaper. The wire. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
^ Chakravarti, Ashok (14 September 2021). "Remembering the massacre at Turkman Gate: From a memoir of the Emergency". Scroll.in. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
^ Shah, Justice. "Shah Commission Report". archive.org. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
^ Bose, Ajoy., Dayal, John. (1977). For Reasons of State: Delhi under Emergency. Ess Ess Publications. pp. 35–65.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)