Killing of man acquitted in Air India bombing a painful reminder for families of victims, says Chandrima Chakraborty
Chandrima Chakraborty is an associate professor in the Department of English & Cultural Studies and has conducted interviews with families and friends of those who died in the Air India bombings (Photo by JD Howell/McMaster University).
July 15, 2022
The shooting death of Ripudaman Singh Malik, the B.C. businessman and Sikh separatist who was acquitted of the 1985 Air India bombings, is no consolation to the families of the victims of the attack still looking for answers decades later, says Chandrima Chakraborty.
Chakraborty, an associate professor in the Department of English & Cultural Studies, has focused much of her research on the tragedy, which remains Canada’s worst mass murder.
The bombing of an Air India flight from Toronto to Bombay on June 23rd, 1985 killed 329 people, including 280 Canadians. Two baggage handlers at Tokyo’s Narita Airport were also killed that day in a separate bomb blast.
After a 15-year investigation, Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were charged with murder and conspiracy in connection to the attack. They were acquitted in 2005.
Chakraborty, who has conducted interviews with families and friends of those who died on Air India Flight 182, spoke to CBC News Network about this latest chapter in the decades-long case. Watch below.
For a transcript of the video, click here.
