In 1984 the former Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, and since then the Sikhs have been a target of violent backlashes by radicals and the Punjab Police. During 1985 Gursharan Singh Soman lived a peaceful life as a farmer in rural Punjab, along with his elderly parents, Gurdev and Tejpal, and an unmarried sister, Guddi.
