New Delhi: For 26 years, Balwant Singh Khera, a social worker from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, has had one goal — justice for the 170 Indians who drowned when their boat capsized near Malta, an island country in the Mediterranean Sea, on 26 December 1996.
A total of 565 people — predominantly Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis — had set sail for Europe hoping for a better life. They were trying to enter Italy illegally when several of them were transferred to a smaller boat, which eventually capsized, killing 290 passengers. Most of those killed were Indians, mostly from Punjab.
Having set up the Malta Boat Tragedy Probe Mission soon after the incident, Khera not only relentlessly followed up on the case in India, but also made several trips to Italy in the hopes of giving some closure to the victims’ families.
But today, age is no longer on his side, and his memory is getting weaker.
“It happened too long ago,” Khera, now 86, told ThePrint. “I fought till I could, I went to Italy and secured a conviction in just two years for Italy-based travel agents who were part of the case. Here in India, the case is still going on.”
Last week, 750 migrants on board a fishing vessel were killed when their boat capsized in Greek waters. The incident, in which a significant number of Pakistanis also died, eerily harks back to 1996 Malta boat tragedy.
Months after the Malta tragedy, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 1997 booked 29 people under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Emigration Act for cheating, forgery and human trafficking. According to the agency, the victims had left Delhi in September 1996 only after they were assured by travel agents that they would be smuggled into various parts of Europe.
But the case has been trudging on since. It wasn’t until 2009 that a Delhi court ordered charges to be framed, and since 2018, the case remains stuck at the ‘prosecution evidence’ stage.
Only 11 of the 206 prosecution witnesses in the case — including the officers who had been investigating the case and family members of those who died — have been examined so far.
Meanwhile, 15 of the 29 accused in the case — those who allegedly promised the migrants jobs and tried to ferry them to Europe — have passed away since the trial began at a CBI court in Delhi, as have a number of witnesses.
“It took 20 years to frame charges. The trial is going on at a snail’s place,” Vipasha Sharma, defence counsel appearing for Avtar Singh, an accused in the case, told ThePrint. “Many witnesses are dead, many accused are also dead and the rest of them are very old. If the trial keeps going at this pace, it will not end even for the next 30 years.”
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The obstacles — deaths, old age
According to lawyer Vipasha Sharma, each hearing brings news of a new death — either of an accused or of a witness — and more delays.
The law mandates a ‘death verification’ process in case an accused or witness dies. Under this, the investigating officer (IO) must write to the police station of the area where the deceased lived. The local police will then send a constable to the residence of the deceased and submit a report to the IO, who presents it to the court.
It’s only after this process that the next witness can be examined.
“Last time more than 10 witnesses were summoned by the court, but the judge was informed that some of them have died. We are only doing death verifications half the time,” Sharma said.
She cited one instance of such a delay — a few months ago, one of the accused against whom a witness statement was recorded had died by the time of the next court hearing.
“So, the purpose of that statement was defeated,” she said.
Once all 206 witnesses have been examined, the court will move on to the next stages — first recording the statements of the accused, and then hearing the defence witnesses.
“This exercise is far from over,” a second defence lawyer who didn’t want to be named told ThePrint. “Even if we give a list of 20 or 30 witnesses (two for each accused), it will take ages to examine them. This can also go on for the next 20 years.”
The man who fought alone
Balwant Singh Khera, who was among those spearheading the campaign to get the victims of the Malta boat tragedy justice, seems to have abandoned all hope.
“Half of the accused have died, others are so old now and will also have gone by the time the trial ends. I don’t think it will reach any conclusion even after the deaths of these accused,” he told ThePrint over phone.
The victims’ families too have either moved on or have died, he added. “The ones who were fighting were mostly parents of the youth who went from Punjab and most of them have died too…In some cases, their wives or children were still hopeful, but looking at the pace of the trial, they too have moved on.”
Among the few reminders of the incident is the MBT tragedy gallery that Khera has painstakingly put together. Here, he’s kept photographs and belongings of the victims, all collected from their families over time.
“This gallery, which I dreamt of turning into a museum, is also in ruins now. There’s no one to maintain it. It’s still there because I am holding on to it. This will vanish too, once I am gone. I really tried my best to get justice for those youth in India, but maybe it wasn’t enough,” he said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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