‘We’ve lost our family… have we committed a crime?’: 170 Indians died in Malta boat tragedy. Nearly three decades on, case still stuck in court

Waiting at Rouse Avenue Court on a Saturday morning, Surjit Singh, who lost his younger brother, Sukhdev Singh (21), in the boat tragedy, described the family’s ordeal.

Narinder Kaur mother of Gurinder Singh Purewal refuses to believe that his son had drown in the infamous ‘malta boat tragedy’. also seen in the photograph is her brother-in-law. her maternal aunt (left) visited her on thursday.-(Express photograph by Swadesh Talwar)

“Pehle mai Tis Hazari Court jaata tha. Wahan 4 saal chakkar kaate. Ab yahan kaat rahe hain. Koi 30 saal tak justice ki umeed rakh sakta hai kya… bada mushkil hai (Earlier, I used to go to Tis Hazari court… Now, I come here. After 30 years have passed, it’s very difficult to believe in justice),” said the 60-year-old, who has travelled to the national capital from Punjab.

“We lost our family now. Tell me… have we committed a crime?”

Of the 29 accused, 15 have died and the trial against them has been closed. Primary accused, Mandhir Kumar, a travel agent, has been declared an absconder.

Parents of the victims had staged several demonstrations in Punjab and Delhi demanding action against the accused persons. While some said they had paid from up to Rs 3 lakh to travel agents for sending their children abroad for employment, others had to sell their land.

A ‘Malta Boat Tragedy Probe Mission’ was even formed by Balwant Singh Khera, a Hoshiarpur resident and social worker, to bring justice to families. He even went to Italy a number of times to pursue the case. He passed away in 2023.

No compensation was given by the central or state governments because the victims were engaged in illegal immigration into a foreign country without proper travel documents. However, the Punjab government had made an ex-gratia payment of Rs 50,000 each to families of 79 victims.

“My brother was very hardworking. Only I know how we arranged the money to send him abroad We had to sell a tractor, among other things,” said Surjit. “Humne zameen aasmaan ek kar diya tha. Agents ne hume dhoka diya (We moved heaven and earth. The agents betrayed us).”

Next to him, five men waited outside the Courtroom of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Jyoti Maheshwari.

Among them was Satinder (45). His elder brother, Narinder, died on the boat when he was five years old. “I was too young to comprehend anything, but I vividly remember the tears of my family members,” he said.

His father had a heart attack almost a year ago. He was the one who used to come to court. This is Satinder’s first time attending the hearing.

“Nowadays, by the time a person turns 30, life feels over. Here, the case itself isn’t ending. Our whole world had changed. How much money can a small landowner really have? We went through immense suffering,” he added.

“I don’t know… if the agents will ever be punished… but I hope that it is soon. I’m prepared to come to court on other dates.”

The Indian Express traces how the trial has played out in court over the years.

Behind the delay

A year after the incident, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case against 29 accused, including travel agents and two suspended ACPs, under sections of the IPC and the Emigration Act for cheating, forgery and human trafficking.

According to the agency’s submissions in court, while the agents had assured the passengers they would be smuggled into various European countries, the two ACPs, B S Meena and Jag Parvesh Chand, who were then posted with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office when the tragedy took place, had allegedly issued travel clearances without valid documents to the passengers.

In 2009, a Delhi court ordered framing of charges. While charges were ordered to be framed for offences of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, those under the Immigration Act and Passport Act against the accused were dropped by the court.

Families of the Malta Boat tragedy victims. (Express Archive)

Since 2018, the case has been stuck at the ‘prosecution evidence’ stage — examination of witnesses by the prosecution. Post this, statements of the accused are to be recorded and then witnesses of the defence will be heard.

The accused are represented by advocates Manoj Singh, Purushendra Bhardwaj, Kumar Gaurav and Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari.

Before every hearing, the CBI, represented by Public Prosecutors Saloni and Anoop Kumar, has been meticulously sifting through names and providing an updated list of witnesses to the court.

Initially, a total of 206 witnesses had to be examined by the agency. In 2023, just 11 of them had been examined. Later, the witness list dropped to 168.

In the final list of witnesses, The Indian Express learnt, more names were dropped as they were either dead, untraceable or settled abroad. Some were also dropped as they were being examined in relation to accused persons who had now passed away.

In three court orders from April, November and December last year, the court took note of the delay in the trial due to the witness list.

In an order dated April 3, 2025, ACJM Maheshwari, who is currently hearing the case, said: “It is dismaying to note that there are multiple witnesses… named in the list, even qua the deceased accused, and their testimonies are no longer required/relevant for trial in the present case. Moreover, even the updated list of witnesses contains names of some witnesses who have already expired… Thus, precious judicial time is wasted in summoning witnesses who are either not alive or not available.”

The court had issued directions to file an updated list of witnesses whose testimony is required to build the case against the accused persons currently facing trial. ACJM Maheshwari also passed a direction to omit names of witnesses “whose testimony is to be recorded only qua the deceased accused persons”.

She further directed the agency to categorise witnesses into various lists, such as official witnesses and eyewitnesses from the same locations, to ensure “they can be summoned category wise” and evidence can be recorded “in a coordinated and step-wise manner”.

In an order dated November 3, 2025, the judge again noted: “… the present matter is more than 25 years old and a significant number of prosecution witnesses are yet to be examined… In light of the above, one last and final opportunity is granted to the CBI to ensure presence of the above-mentioned witnesses on the next date of hearing, failing which they shall be dropped from the list of witnesses”.

A month later, on December 10, the court noted that more than 60 witnesses were yet to be examined.

As of today, The Indian Express has learnt, about 40 witnesses have been examined while about 70 witnesses have either died, settled abroad or are untraceable.

The next date of hearing is on February 21. An eyewitness of the incident is likely to be examined. About 20 persons survived and the CBI has managed to track down some of them; these witnesses had tried to save the victims.

Surjit, meanwhile, demanded that the agents be punished: “We have no family, no money left.  My parents are dead. We have lost everything. It took us so much time to heal from the loss.”