Reyat sentencing not enough: Kanishka co-pilot’s widow

While a Canadian Court last Friday sentenced the only person ever convicted for the 1985 Kanishka bombing to nine years in prison,Amarjit Kaur Bhinder,widow of the plane’s co-pilot,Capt SS Bhinder,says there is little solace in this development.

British Columbia Superior Court Judge Mark McEwan,who handed the sentence to Inderjit Singh Reyat,found the latter guilty of perjury (lying under oath) during the 2003 trial of the case,in which the two main accused Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri,were acquitted. The court has found that Reyat misled the court 19 times in three days of testimony that began in September 2003. The ill-fated Air India aircraft had crashed off the coast of Ireland,en route from Montreal to London and New Delhi when a bomb went off in the cargo hold,killing all 329 passengers and crew members on board. The same day,two baggage handlers working at Tokyo’s Narita airport were killed by a suitcase bomb which,as per the police,was meant for another Air India flight. Most of those killed in the crash were Canadian citizens of Indian origin.

Amarjit Kaur Bhinder talking to The Indian Express over the phone said,“There is nothing to celebrate for there is no closure in this case. The loss of 329 innocent lives is too much and the real culprits should be brought to book. This man should name the real people behind the tragedy and they should be punished.”

Bhinder is currently in New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. She said,“We are here to request the prime minister for a memorial for all those who died in this crash. There are four memorials in Canada and one in Ireland but none in India. We go to Canada each December 23 for all those whom we lost,which is not possible for every one. Thus we need a memorial here in the national capital.” Bhinder,who was unable to meet the PM on Saturday,handed over a letter of request to be delivered to him.