Lalit Maken was a

Member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, a political leader of

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

and a labour union leader. Maken was the son-in-law of late President of India,

Shankar Dayal Sharma Shankar Dayal Sharma (; 19 August 1918 – 26 December 1999) was an Indian lawyer and politician from the state of Madhya Pradesh who served as the ninth President of India, from 1992 to 1997. Born in Bhopal, Sharma studied at Agra, Allahaba ...

. In the year of 1984, he was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

as a

, a

directly elected Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

from

South Delhi South Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India with its headquarters in Saket. Administratively, the district is divided into three subdivisions, Saket, Hauz Khas, and Mehrauli. It is bounded by t ...

of India. He was a metropolitan

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

prior to his election to

. Sikh Murders 1 In a 31-page booklet titled '

Who Are The Guilty ''Who are the Guilty'' is a report published by political scientist Rajni Kothari of Delhi-based organisation People's Union For Civil Liberties People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) is a human rights body formed in India in 1976 by Jayapr ...

People's Union for Civil Liberties People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) is a human rights body formed in India in 1976 by Jayaprakash Narayan, as the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights (PUCLDR). Background Indian emergency Jayaprakash Narayan was a G ...

(PUCL) listed 227 people who allegedly led the mobs, which killed up to 17,000 Sikhs over three days. Lalit Maken's name was third on the list.A life sentence
This allegation, though, has never been proved.

Assassination

Maken and his wife Gitanjali, the daughter of the then future president

, were gunned down by

Harjinder Singh Jinda Harjinder Singh Jinda (3 April 1961 – 9 October 1992) was a member of the Sikh separatist group Khalistan Commando Force and one of the two assassins of Arun Vaidya (the Chief of Indian army at the time of Operation Blue Star and architect of ...

Sukhdev Singh Sukha Sukhdev Singh Sukha was a Sikh, and member of the Khalistan Commando Force, a Sikh militant group and one of the assassins of Arun Vaidya, the Chief of Indian army at the time of Operation Blue Star to flush out heavily armed Anti government S ...

and Ranjit Singh Gill alias Kukki for his alleged involvement in riots outside Maken's

Kirti Nagar {{Infobox settlement , name = Kirti Nagar , official_name = , native_name = , native_name_lang = , other_name = , nickname ...

residence in

West Delhi West Delhi is one of the 11 administrative districts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India. Administratively, the district is divided into three subdivisions, Patel Nagar, Rajouri Garden and Punjabi Bagh. West Delhi is bound by th ...

on 31 July 1985The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Punjab
/ref> Lalit Maken was gunned down, when he was moving towards his car parked across the road from his house in

Kirti Nagar {{Infobox settlement , name = Kirti Nagar , official_name = , native_name = , native_name_lang = , other_name = , nickname ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. All three assailants continued firing even as Maken ran towards his house for cover. Maken's wife Geetanjali and a visitor, Balkishan, were also caught in the firing. Maken's wife was still alive but later died on her way to the hospital. The assailants escaped on their scooters. Lalit Maken, Gitanjali Maken and Balkishen were taken to

All India Institute of Medical Sciences The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , Government of India. These institutes ha ...

. The postmortem examinations were conducted by a team of doctors headed by T D Dogra. Police later arrested

in the year of 1986 and

in the year of 1987. Both of them were later sentenced to death for the murder of

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

general

Arun Shridhar Vaidya General Arunkumar Shridhar Vaidya (27 July 1926 – 10 August 1986) was a General Officer in the Indian Army. He served as the 13th Chief of the Army Staff from 1983 to 1986. Following his retirement, he was assassinated by Harjinder Singh ...

(architect of

Operation Blue Star Operation Blue Star was the codename of a military operation which was carried out by Indian security forces between 1 and 10 June 1984 in order to remove Damdami Taksal leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the buildings of ...

) and on 9 October 1992, they were hanged in

Yerwada Central Jail Yerwada Central Jail is a noted high-security prison in Yerwada, Pune in Maharashtra. This is the largest prison in the state of Maharashtra, and also one of the largest prisons in South Asia, housing over 5,000 prisoners (2017) spread over var ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

in Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. As per Indian request, Ranjit Singh "Gill" was arrested by Interpol in New Jersey, USA on 14 May 1987, a federal magistrate approved his extradition on 6 February 1988 after he requested to go back home (the request was earlier denied thrice) and he was deported back to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in February 2000 after lengthy legal cases and was sentenced to life imprisonment on 24 February 2003. Finally his life sentence was commuted on 20 May 2009.The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Punjab
/ref>

Family

Former Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India,

Ajay Maken Ajay Maken (born 12 January 1964) is a politician from the Indian National Congress party. He is the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC). He was formerly a minister in ...

is his nephew. His only child (daughter), Avantika Maken married Suchiter Sharma in 1997. Later, she filed a divorce and married Ashok Tanwar in 2005, former President of

Indian Youth Congress The Indian Youth Congress is the youth wing of the Indian National Congress party. The Indian Youth Congress was a department of the Indian National Congress from the period just after the Partition of India in 1947 until the late 1960s. While p ...

and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. Both

and Avantika Maken had requested the early release of Lalit Maken’s killer Ranjit Singh Gill alias Kukki.South Asia Post

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maken, Lalit 1951 births 1985 deaths 1985 murders in India Assassinated Indian politicians People murdered in Delhi Indian murder victims Deaths by firearm in India Trade unionists from Delhi Lok Sabha members from Delhi India MPs 1984–1989 Indian National Congress politicians Victims of Sikh terrorism