How did the Citizens Justice Committee (CJC) come to be formed and for what purpose? What were the bona fides of the persons involved in it?
A. It was the brain-child of a 28-year-old lawyer who had migrated to Delhi from Punjab and had been in the profession for barely three years. H.S. Phoolka proposed the idea of such a body to help the victims, who are mostly poor and semi-literate, present their case before the Misra Commission. The idea appealed to a lot of eminent persons and in no time the CJC came into being with former Chief Justice of India S.M. Sikri as its chairman. The other eminent persons who were part of the CJC included human rights activist Justice V.M. Tarkunde, senior advocate Soli Sorabjee (who is now Attorney General of India), Bangladesh war hero Lt Gen J.S. Aurora, social scientist Rajni Kothari and author Khushwant Singh. Amid such luminaries, Phoolka was made the convenor of the CJC in recognition of the vision and drive he displayed in the run-up to its formation in July 1985.
