Part I: IN THE BEGINNING - The answers to why Harvinder Singh still represents the victims of the 1984 pogroms are all in his experience of those fatal days in Delhi.

October 31, 1984, Singh was on his motorcycle in New Delhi when a man stopped him and said, "Run! A mob is killing people at the left crossing." He saw he was headed straight for the mob. He turned, but a mob was there too. He made some more quick maneuvers and made it home.

November 2, 1984, Singh and his wife, Maninder Kaur, were still in hiding in their home. A mob had burned down their neighbor’s house. When the mob reached their house, the landlord told them the couple had gone to Punjab to stay with family. The mob broke windows and damaged the property, but they did not find the couple.

November 5, 1984, desperate to get out of the city, a pilot friend helped them slip away to the airport. He tucked the couple away in the cockpit. That’s not lawful, the co-pilot said. Look at what is going on around you, the pilot said. Is that lawful?

"We had a miraculous escape," Singh said.

Harvinder Singh, observing 50 this year, looked back proudly at what he did 22 years ago. He went back to Delhi 19 days later, and stayed.

Singh was back in the court building where he worked, packing, when some guards informed him that lawyers were needed in the relief camps.

Trilokpuri saw the worst devastation. Over 400 were killed in two lanes of the town. The survivors, mostly women and young children, were staying in the Farash Bazaar Camp in east Delhi. There were hardly any men or boys.

Volunteers from various organizations formed by the educated class of Delhi were working there providing humanitarian relief. They were not qualified to document legal complaints.

"I started working. I told my wife these people needed legal help," Singh said. He was a young lawyer with only three-years experience. "I had to try to do what little I could do."

Singh was born in Chandigarh and grew up the in the Bhadaur village. He went to a government school in the village and then to Punjab University.

After graduating in 1981, Singh went to Delhi to practice law. He worked in the High Court of Delhi on Supreme Court matters. He was designated a Constable at 44, considered a very early age.

Judges appreciated his work, Singh said. In the courts, he was known for his honesty and integrity. Singh was sought out to take on controversial cases. Even ministers in the government went to seek his consul.

Singh was young, brilliant and doing well. And that helped in ’84. He could work, pro bono, for the survivors.

Singh went beyond preparing affidavits.

An old man came to him and told him that his four young granddaughters were the only survivors in his family. Their parents, brother and uncle were all killed. The girls were sent to a women’s shelter because he did not have the money to file custody paper. That was the first case he filed in court.

In 1985, the government appointed the Ranganath Mishra Commission to investigate and report whether the events of 1984 were organized. A notification from the commission invited "All persons acquainted with the subject-matter of inquiry to furnish to the Commission information in the form of affidavits relating to the allegation in regard to the incidents of organized violence."

Singh said he had to represent the victims and survivors and submit their affidavits to the Commission. He would take on the government. It was a daunting task that would require all his time and talent.

"For Mishra, I gave up my private practice."

Note: Interview by Anju Kaur - anjukaur@sikhnn.com