Jagdish Tytler
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Jagdish Tytler (born Jagdish Kapoor; 17 August 1944) is an Indian politician and former
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 ...
. He has held several government positions, the last being as Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs, a post from which he resigned after publication of a report by an official commission of inquiry, known as the Nanavati Commission. The commission had noted that he "very probably" had a hand in organising attacks on the
Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
community in Delhi after Sikh bodyguards assassinated the
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
,
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
, during the
1984 anti-Sikh riots The 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, also known as the 1984 Sikh Massacre, was a series of organised pogroms against Sikhs in India following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. Government estimates project that about 2,800 Sikhs ...
. He has not been charged with any crimes related to those riots. Currently he is serving as permanent committee member of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. Due to the controversy concerning his involvement in the riots, the Congress party dropped his name as the candidate for the
2009 Lok Sabha elections 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...
.


Early days

Tytler was born on 17 August 1944 as Jagdish Kapoor to a Hindu father and Sikh mother in the
Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
i family of
Gujranwala Gujranwala ( ur, , label=none; ) is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisala ...
in
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
. He was brought up by the educationist James Douglas Tytler, the founder of many public schools including the
Delhi Public School Delhi Public School (also known as DPS) is the largest public school institution in India. The classes are from KG I to Class XII (Science, Arts and Commerce). It is affiliated to CBSE. Delhi Public School may refer to: * Delhi Public School Socie ...
and the
Summer Fields School Summer Fields is a fee-paying boys' independent day and boarding Preparatory school (UK), preparatory school in Summertown, Oxford. It was originally called Summerfield and used to have a subsidiary school, Summerfields, St Leonards-on-Sea (kn ...
. In 2011, his entry into the
Jagannath Temple The Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath, a form of Vishnu - one of the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism. Puri is in the state of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India. The present temple was rebuilt f ...
at
Puri Puri () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is als ...
, which is reserved only for Hindus, caused questions about his religion, to be raised in the
Odisha Legislative Assembly The Odisha Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state legislature of Odisha state in India. The seat of the Legislative Assembly is at Bhubaneswar, the capital of the state. The Legislative Assembly comprises 147 Members of Legislative Ass ...
. Tytler denied having converted to Christianity, and stated that he had changed his name to show his gratitude towards James Douglas Tytler, who had brought him up. As a member of Congress' youth organization he was first 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 ...
in
1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...
. He served as a Union Minister first in the Civil Aviation department and then in the Labor department. He was re-elected in
1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
and served as the Union
Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...
for Surface Transport. In
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha.


1984 anti-Sikh Genocide

Tytler has been accused of involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India, a charge that he denies. The riots had occurred after Sikh bodyguards
assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Tytler stated that he was present at
Teen Murti Bhavan The Teen Murti Bhavan (''Teen Murti House''; formerly known as Flagstaff House) was built by British as the residence New Delhi of the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. However, He stayed there for 16 years until his death on 27 May 1 ...
for the funeral ceremony with Gandhi's body and was in mourning at the time when these events occurred at Gurudwara Pulbangash, situated near Azad Market. He has not been charged with any crimes related to the 1984 riots. In April 2004, the Indian National Congress announced Jagdish Tytler as its candidates for
Indian Parliament The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...
elections for constituencies in and around Delhi. In 2019, Tytler said of the controversy surrounding the anti-Sikh riot accusations that


Nanavati Commission

The report of the Nanavati Commission looking into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots said that Tytler "very probably" had a hand in organising the attacks. The then Congress-led
Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
, however, decided not to prosecute him or anyone else named in the report due to lack of concrete evidence. Tytler, who had been appointed minister of state with independent charge of non-resident affairs, claimed innocence, saying that it was a case of mistaken identity. He said he had not been in the area at the time and that eight earlier commissions of inquiry had exonerated him. On 10 August 2005, he resigned from the Union Council of Ministers, stating that it was his "moral duty" to do so to prevent opposition parties making political capital out of the situation following release of the Nanavati report.


Defamation allegations

In 2004, lawyer
H. S. Phoolka Harvinder Singh Phoolka, is a senior advocate of Delhi High Court, politician, human rights activist, and author. He served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Legislative Assembly. He is known for spearheading what is described as ...
filed a case in the
Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 Indian census, 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the ...
court against Tytler, accusing Tytler of defaming him during a television programme in the same year. Tytler had claimed that Phoolka is making money by blackmailing people. In 2014, Phoolka declined an "unconditional apology" from Tytler as a proposed settlement. The court framed charges against Tytler in 2015. As of July 2018, no verdict had been reached.


Reopening of the case in 2007

India's
Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmen ...
(CBI) closed all cases against Tytler in November 2007 for his alleged criminal conspiracy to engineer riots against Sikhs in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination on 31 October 1984. The CBI submitted a report to the
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
court which stated that no evidence or witness had been found to corroborate the allegations of instigating crowd during riot against Tytler. On 18 December 2007, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Delhi court, Sanjeev Jain, who had earlier dismissed the case after the CBI's report to his court, ordered the CBI to reopen cases against Tytler relating to the riots.


Clean chit by CBI

In March 2009, the CBI filed its final report on investigation into the riots cases and cleared Jagdish Tytler. The
BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
which was then in opposition alleged that "such a clean chit ahead of the elections" implied that the CBI had been misused. On 2 April, CBI claimed there was lack of sufficient evidence against Tytler and sought to close the riot case. On 7 April 2009, the then Home Minister,
P. Chidambaram Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), better known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee ...
, had a shoe thrown at him by Jarnail Singh, a Sikh journalist, during a press conference in Delhi. Singh, who works at the
Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
daily ''
Dainik Jagran ''Dainik Jagran'' ( Hi:दैनिक जागरन , , ) is an Indian Hindi language daily newspaper. It was ranked 5th in the world and 2nd in India by circulation in 2016. In 2019 Quarter 4, according to Indian Readership Survey, Daini ...
'', was dissatisfied with Chidambaram's answer to a question about the "clean chit" given to Tytler. In 2010, CBI reiterated the clean chit to Tytler.


Denial of Lok Sabha ticket

After the shoe throwing incident, the Congress party dropped both Tytler and Sajjan Kumar as Congress candidates for the Lok Sabha elections of 2009. Tytler accused the media of victimizing him through a media trial. Tytler blamed the
Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are many ...
and his "enemies" within the Congress party for scuttling his nomination.


Reiteration of CBI clean chit in 2010

In February 2010, at a Delhi court before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rakesh Pandit, the CBI concluded its arguments stating that the witness’ statements were "false and concocted", CBI supported its closure report that gave a clean chit to Tytler in the riots case. The CBI prosecutor stated that "The version of (witness) Jasbir Singh is absolutely false and concocted. He has made statements with an intention to falsely implicate Tytler." CBI had examined another witness Surender Singh and his family members who stated that the statements of the witness were not correct. CBI had produced a CD before the court to prove that Tytler was not at the location of riot but was present at the residence of Indira Gandhi.


CBI Closure reports and Court decisions to continue CBI Probes

In April 2013, a Sessions Court rejected the CBI report and ordered investigation against Tytler. Witnesses in the subsequent investigation have included Abhishek Verma and
Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...
. CBI filed its third closure report in 2014 (earlier closure reports were filed in 2007 and 2009). However Delhi's Karkardooma courts rejected the third CBI closure report on December 4, 2015, due to protest petition by Lakhwinder Kaur, and asked the CBI to continue its probe. In 2016, CBI questions Tytler for 4 hours.


Advocate HS Phoolka's resolve

Senior advocate and activist HS Phoolka, who has strived to seek punishment for the accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots claimed in 2016 that CBI is shielding Jagdish Tytler, and that Akali Dal-BJP government is doing everything possible to protect Tytler. He stated on Dec 4, 2019 that "After sending
Sajjan Kumar Sajjan Kumar (born 23 September 1945) is an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India from Outer Delhi as a member of the Indian National Congress but resigned from the primary membership o ...
to prison, I will now ensure to send Kamal Nath and Tytler to jail."


Akali Dal's Proposed Resolution for Tytler's arrest in Punjab Assembly

In November 2021, the Shirimani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh that his party will move a resolution in the upcoming Punjab Assembly session seeking Tytler's arrest. Responding to that
Sajjan Singh Verma Sajjan Singh Verma is an Indian politician, and a member of Indian National Congress, currently serving as an MLA from Sonkatch in Madhya Pradesh. He was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India representing the Dewas Lok Sabha constituency of M ...
, Congress MLA from Sonkatch commented that "SAD does not have faith in court. It tries to become judge and pronounce judgement".


Personal life

He is married to Jennifer, daughter of a Scottish mother and an Irish father, born in Delhi, who is the principal of the J D Tytler School. They have a son, Siddhartha and a daughter. His son Siddhartha is a fashion designer. Jagdish Tytler was raised by a Christian minister, however he identifies himself as a Hindu. In 2011 his visit to the Jagannath Puri temple created a controversy because non-Hindus are prohibited from entering the temple. Tytler claimed that he is a Hindu and had visited the Puri temple four times in the past.I am a Hindu, roars Tytler, Siraj Muhammad, March 20, 2011
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References


Further reading

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External links



After Apology, Congress Tries to Scuttle Sikh Massacre Report {{DEFAULTSORT:Tytler, Jagdish 1944 births Living people Indian National Congress politicians 1984 anti-Sikh riots India MPs 2004–2009 People from Delhi India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1984–1989 India MPs 1991–1996 Lok Sabha members from Delhi Civil aviation ministers of India Indian Hindus