Air India Flight 182

Air India Flight 182 was a scheduled international flight from Toronto Pearson International Airport (as Air India Flight 181) to Mumbai’s Sahar International Airport with regular Mirabel-London-Delhi stops. On the morning of June 23, 1985, the Boeing 747-237B serving the Montreal-London segment exploded near the coast of Ireland from a bomb planted by Sikh terrorists from the Babbar Khalsa. All 329 people on board were killed including 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens, and 22 Indian citizens.

The perpetrators are believed to be Inderjit Singh Reyat, a dual British-Canadian national, who pleaded guilty in 2003, and Talwinder Singh Parmar, who was one of the key individuals associated with the Khalistani separatist group, Babbar Khalsa. The plot included a second bomb, intended to explode on the same day and murder the occupants of Air India Flight 301 serving the Tokyo-Bangkok-Delhi route. Instead, it killed two baggage handlers at Tokyo's Narita International Airport when the bomb suitcase was being transferred from the original Canadian airplane to the Air India 747; fragments from this bomb proved Reyat's involvement. The two bombs had started their journey when checked onto a pair of Canadian Pacific Air Lines flights from Vancouver International Airport, one headed to Tokyofor connection with Air India Flight 301, and one to Montrealfor connection with Air India Flight 182.

The plan's execution had transnational consequences and involved citizens and governments from five nation states. Babbar Khalsa was implicated but not confirmed to be responsible for the bombing. Although a handful of people were arrested and tried for the Air India bombing, the only person convicted was Inderjit Singh Reyat, who pleaded guilty in 2003 to manslaughter. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for assembling the bombs that exploded on board Air India Flight 182 and at Narita.

The subsequent investigation and prosecution lasted almost twenty years. This was the most expensive trial in Canadian history, costing nearly C$130 million. The two accused, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were both found not guilty.

The Governor General-in-Council in 2006 appointed the former Supreme Court Justice John C. Major to conduct a commission of inquiry into the failure to prevent the terrorist acts, compounded by the failure to achieve convictions of any perpetrators beyond the bomb maker. His report, which was completed and released on 17 June 2010, concluded that a "cascading series of errors" by the Government of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had allowed the militant attack to take place.

In India on 13 April 1978 a convention organized by the Sant Nirankari Mission took place at the time of the important Sikh festival of Vaisakhi, a celebration of the birth of Khalsa. The convention was led by Gurbachan Singh, leader of the Sant Nirankari Mission, and was organized in Amritsar with permission from the Akali Dal-led government of the state of Punjab. The practices of the Sant Nirankari were considered heresy by the school of orthodox Sikhism expounded by Bhindranwale. A procession of about 200 Sikhs led by Bhindranwale and Fauja Singh of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha (AKJ) left the Golden Temple, heading towards the Nirankari Convention. In the ensuing violence, several people were killed: two of Bhindranwale's followers, eleven members of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha and three Nirankaris.

A criminal case was filed against 62 Nirankaris who were charged by the Akali-led government in Punjab with the murder of 13 Sikhs. The case was heard in the neighbouring Haryana state, and all the accused were acquitted, on the basis that they acted in self-defence. The Punjab government decided not to appeal the decision. As a result of the Nirankaris receiving positive attention in the media, some orthodox Sikhs claimed this to be a conspiracy to defame the Sikh religion. The chief proponents of this attitude were the Babbar Khalsa founded by the widow, Bibi Amarjit Kaur of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha; the Damdami Taksal led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who had also been in Amritsar on the day of the attack on the convention; the Dal Khalsa, formed with the object of demanding a sovereign Sikh state; and the All India Sikh Students Federation, which was banned by the government.

The founders of this Panthan group (sect) in Vancouver vowed to avenge the deaths of Sikhs. Talwinder Singh Parmar led the militant wing of AKJ, which became the Babbar Khalsa, to attack the Nirankaris. On 24 April 1980 Gurbachan Singh, the Baba (head) of the Nirankaris, was killed. A member of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha, Ranjit Singh, surrendered and admitted to the assassination three years later, and was sentenced to serve thirteen years at the Tihar Jail in Delhi.

On 19 November 1981, Parmar was among the alleged militants who escaped from a shootout in which two Punjab Police officers were gunned down outside the house of Amarjit Singh Nihang in Ludhiana district. This added to the notoriety of Babbar Khalsa and its leader. He went to Canada. The total number of deaths was 410 in violent incidents and riots while 1,180 people were injured. The Central government rejected the secessionist demands and on 3–6 June 1984, Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi ordered Operation Blue Star, to remove the militants from the Golden Temple in which thousands of Sikhs were injured and killed as the Indian Army attacked the Golden Temple complex to remove Bhindrawale and his followers. On 28 January 1983, the aircraft operating as Air India Flight 306 was damaged following a ground collision with an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 at Palam Airport. The aircraft was repaired and returned to service.

Bombings

On 22 June 1985, at 13:30 UTC (6:30 a.m. PDT) an unidentified man calling himself "Manjit Singh" (checked in as M. Singh) called to confirm his reservations on Air India Flight 181/182. He was told he was still wait-listed, and was offered alternative arrangements, which he declined. At 15:50 UTC (8:50 a.m. PDT), M. Singh checked into a busy line of 30 people for Canadian Pacific Air Lines (CP Air) Flight 60 from Vancouver to Toronto, which was scheduled to leave at 9:18 a.m. He asked agent Jeanne Bakermans to check his dark brown, hard-sided Samsonite suitcase, and have it transferred to Air India Flight 181 and then to Flight 182 to India. Bakermans initially refused his request to inter-line the baggage since his seat from Toronto to Montreal and from Montreal to Bombay was unconfirmed. He insisted, but the agent again rebuffed him, telling him, "Your ticket doesn't read that you're confirmed" and "we're not supposed to check your baggage through." The man said, "Wait, I'll get my brother for you." As he started to walk away, she relented and agreed to accept the bag, but told him he would have to check in again with Air India in Toronto. After the mass murders, Bakermans would realize this deception got the bag on its way to Air India Flight 182. The anxious man was never identified. CP Air Flight 60 departed Vancouver without M. Singh having boarded. Flight 182 departed for London Heathrow Airport, en route to Palam International Airport, Delhi, and Sahar International Airport, Bombay. The plane had 329 people on board: 307 passengers and 22 crew. Captain Narendra Singh Hanse (56) served as the captain,

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Additional evidence to support a bombing was retrieved from the broken-up aircraft, which lay on the sea bed in the Atantic ocean at a depth of .

Victims

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; float:right; margin:1em;"

!Nationality!!Passengers!!Crew!!Total

|align=left|Canada||268||||268

|align=left|United Kingdom||27||||27

|align=left|India||||22||22

|align=left|United States||10||||10

|align=left|Undetermined||2||||2

!Total!!307!!22!!329

A casualty list was published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 10 Americans, and 2 people of undetermined nationality. Canadians of Indian descent made up the majority of the passengers.

Between 82 and 86 passengers were children, including six infants. There were 29 entire families on the plane. Two children not on board had both parents on board, resulting in them becoming orphaned. There were six sets of parents who lost their children, and an additional 32 people not on the aircraft who had the remaining members of their families on board. around 35 passengers were Sikhs from Greater Montreal. In terms of metropolitan areas, the Greater Toronto Area was the home of the majority of the passengers, with Greater Montreal also having the next largest number of passengers. Some passengers originated from British Columbia. Gurpreet Singh wrote in the Georgia Straight that "B.C. has far fewer Air India victims' families than Ontario." Forty-five passengers were employees of Air India or relatives of Air India employees. The report stated that interlining passengers boarding Flight 181 in Toronto who became passengers on Flight 182 included ten passengers connecting from Vancouver, five passengers from Winnipeg, four passengers from Edmonton, and two passengers from Saskatoon. It stated that all of these passengers had taken flights on Air Canada, The flight crew and cabin crew of Flight 182 had boarded in Toronto and commanded the segment of Flight 181 from Toronto to Montreal.

Investigations

thumb|upright=1.1|A [[commemorative plaque presented to the citizens of Bantry, Ireland, by the government of Canada for the residents' kindness and compassion to the families of the victims of Air India Flight 182]]

Within hours, Canada's Indian community was a focus of attention as victims and among hints that officials were investigating connections to the Sikh separatists who had threatened and committed acts of violence in retaliation against Hindus.

Suspects

The multiple suspects in the bombing were members of a Khalistani group called the Babbar Khalsa (banned in Europe and the United States as a proscribed militant group) and other related groups who were at the time agitating for a separate Sikh state (called Khalistan) in Punjab, India.

Inderjit Singh Reyat (born 11 March 1952) – was born in India, but moved to the United Kingdom with his family in 1965 and later to Canada in 1974, and holds dual British and Canadian citizenship. He worked as an auto mechanic and electrician in Duncan, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. Investigation of the bombing in Tokyo led to discovery that he had bought a Sanyo radio, clocks and other parts found after the blast. He was convicted of manslaughter for constructing the bomb. As part of a deal, he was to testify against others, but as he declined to implicate others, he would be the only suspect convicted in the case. and now fully released with some restrictions since early 2017 to his family's home in BC.
Ajaib Singh Bagri (born 4 October 1949) – a mill worker living in Kamloops. During the founding convention of the World Sikh Organization in New York in 1984, Bagri gave a speech in which he proclaimed that, "until we kill 50,000 Hindus, we will not rest."
Surjan Singh Gill (born 19 October 1942) – was living in Vancouver as the self-proclaimed consul-general of Khalistan. Some RCMP testimony claimed he was a mole who left the plot just days before its execution because he was told to pull out, but the Canadian government denied that report. He later fled Canada and was believed in August 2003 to be hiding in London, England.

Trials

Authorities initially lacked evidence to link Inderjit Singh Reyat directly to either the Narita or Air India blasts and pursue a conspiracy to commit murder charge. Instead, Reyat pleaded guilty on 29 April 1986 to possession of an explosive substance and possession of an unregistered firearm. His sentence was a light $2,000 fine. Just three months later, Reyat moved his family from Canada to Coventry, near Birmingham, in the UK. Reyat was soon hired at a Jaguar factory where he worked for nearly two years.

The trial of Malik and Bagri proceeded between April 2003 and December 2004 in Courtroom 20,

On 14 July 2022, Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of the men acquitted in the 1985 Air India militant bombings, was shot to death in Surrey, B.C.

Reyat's perjury trial

In February 2006, Inderjit Singh Reyat was charged with perjury with regard to his testimony in the trial. In February 2011, Reyat filed an appeal stating that the judge "erred in law, misdirected the jury and failed to tell jurors there was no evidence to support portions of the Crown's closing address," and called it "harsh and excessive," asking for a new trial.

In January 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected Reyat's bid to appeal his perjury conviction. The country's top court did not disclose its reasons as per customary practice.

In March 2014, the British Columbia Court of Appeal dismissed Reyat's appeal that the 9-year length of the sentence, the country's longest sentence for perjury, was unfit. The court ruled the gravity of the perjury in such a case was without comparison.

Parole

On 28 January 2016, Inderjit Singh Reyat was released on parole. He was released from a halfway house less than 13 months later, on 14 February 2017, with restrictions. One agent "said he felt compelled to destroy the tapes (that were in his possession) because he was morally obliged to do everything in his power to protect the safety of his sources. '[I] decided it was a moral issue... If their identity had become known in the Sikh community, they would have been killed. There is no doubt in my mind about that.' " This was later cited as a reason why the suspects in the bombing were eventually acquitted in 2005.

CSIS connection

During an interview with Bagri on 28 October 2000, RCMP agents described Surjan Singh Gill as an agent for CSIS, saying the reason that he resigned from the Babbar Khalsa was because his CSIS handlers told him to pull out.

Public inquiry

On 1 May 2006, the Crown-in-Council, on the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper,

Initiated later in June, the Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182 was to examine how Canadian law restricted funding terrorist groups, The report was 4,000 pages long, with 5 volumes and 64 recommendations. He called for the Canadian government's National Security Advisor to be given responsibility for preventing conflict between agencies, as well as calling for a national director of terrorism prosecutions, a new coordinator of witness protection for terrorism cases, and broad changes to close the gaps in airport security. A fourth memorial was unveiled in Lachine, Montreal on the 26th anniversary of the tragedy.

Public memory

2006

Monique Castonguay, whose sister-in-law, Rachelle Castonguay, was one of the murder victims, testified at the public Commission of Inquiry in October 2006. During her testimony, she revealed that many non-Asian Canadians, including journalists, that the family had talked to since the Canadian terrorists had murdered 331 people in the coordinated terrorist bombings 21 years earlierincluding 268 Canadian citizens, were surprised to learn that "there were white people on board" Air India Flight 182. Castonguay called this "an example of the racial stereotyping that afflicted many non-Asian Canadians" with regard to the bombings.

In the study, participants were questioned about their familiarity with the bombs planted by separatist Sikh extremists advocating for a separate Sikh state in Punjab, India. The results indicated that 61% of respondents claimed to have limited knowledge on the matter, while 28% admitted to having no knowledge at all.

Recognition in media

In film and television:

CBC Television announced the start of filming for Flight 182, a documentary about the tragedy directed by Sturla Gunnarsson. Its title was changed to Air India 182 before premiering at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto in April 2008. It subsequently premiered on CBC Television in June.
Eight months after the bombing, The Province newspaper reporter Salim Jiwa published Death of Air India Flight 182.
The Air India bombing is central to the plot of the novel All Inclusive by Toronto-based author Farzana Doctor.
Dr. Chandra Sankurathri, husband and father of Air India victims, wrote an autobiography called Ray of Hope.
In 2021, former CBC reporter, Terry Milewski authored, "Blood for Blood: Fifty Years of the Global Khalistan Project", where he extensively examines the worldwide Khalistan movement, its strong desire for retribution, and the inadequate support provided by India's allies in the West. He also outlines the progression and decline of diaspora militants such as Talwinder Singh Parmar.

Other recognition

The Pada memorial awards at Laurentian University were established in honour of victim Vishnu Pada, the husband of Lata Pada, Indian-born Canadian choreographer and Bharatanatyam dancer.

The University of Manitoba created the Donald George Lougheed Memorial Scholarship in honour of Air India victim Donald George Lougheed. It is awarded to computer engineering students.

Laxminarayan and Padmini Turlapati, the parents of victims Sanjay and Deepak Turlapati, created the Sanjay Deepak Children Trust. in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh in memory of his wife Manjari, son Sri Kiran and daughter Sarada, victims of the Air India Flight 182. SF implements educational programs through Sarada Vidyalayam, health care programs through Sri Kiran Institute of Ophthalmology and disaster relief programs through Spandana.

Notes

References

Citations

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Sources

External links

2010 Final Report Air India Commission—Government of Canada
The Verdict–Reasons for Judgment, R. v Malik and Bagri
Background on Air India bombing—CBC.ca
Aftermath of Air India–www.Canada.com Air India archives
CBC Digital Archives – The Air India Investigation

Passenger lists

Final passenger and crew list—Does not indicate locations or distinguish crew from passengers
"Passengers and Crew Aboard Air-India Jetliner." Associated Press at The New York Times. 24 June 1985—Preliminary list with crew members indicated and locations of U.S. passengers indicated, Alternate version