The Air India bombings have long evoked painful memories in India – although the majority of victims were Canadian citizens, most were of Indian origin and had relatives in the country. The prevailing feeling in India is that justice has not been served to the victims.
In 2006, Canadian lawyer Richard Quance traveled to India to meet some of the victims’ relatives – he told BBC, external that families in India felt “excluded from the legal process” and questioned the process that led to the acquittal of Malik and Bagri.
Indian families left destitute by the bombings felt “neglected and left behind”, Amarjit Bhinder, whose husband was co-pilot on the Air India flight, told the BBC at the time.
The recent feud between the two countries has also brought tragedy to the forefront in India – a federal minister said recently tweeted about it, external, calling the bombing “one of the most reprehensible acts of aerial terror against India” and criticizing the “mindsets that tolerated and even condoned” the act. Several news reports and opinion pieces have also commented on missteps by Canadian authorities before and after the bombings.
Over the years, the families of the victims have expressed their anguish.
“I still meet people today who are somehow connected to the Air India bombing – my daughter’s kindergarten teacher was a classmate of a victim “It’s surprising how deeply the bombing affected Canadians.” said, external Susheel Gupta, who was 12 when his mother died.
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