[2] He is known for spearheading what is described as "one of the longest and most torturous legal battles" and[3] "crusades"[4] to gain justice for the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots and fighting individual cases on the involvement of Congress-I leaders H. K. L. Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler despite the government cover-up.

[5][6] He received threatening letters[7] for unearthing involvements of ruling political party leaders in what the Asian Age called "the Mother of all Cover-ups" in a front-page story.

[5][6] The special anniversary edition of the Outlook included Phoolka in its list of 50 people that make a difference in India, alongside Amartya Sen and Abhinav Ghosh.

[9] In 2017 he successfully contested from Dakha Assembly constituency, but resigned on 12 October 2018 over alleged failure of Congress government in acting on Ranjit Singh commission's inquiry report on desecration of Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

[10] Phoolka's formative years were spent at his native village Bhadaur, into Sidhu Jat royal family in the Barnala district of Punjab, India.

When informed by a friend of the attacks on Sikhs, he avoided the main roads to reach his home in South Delhi via the slums of Kotla Mubarakpur.

[24] Phoolka planned to move his residence to Chandigarh after the riots, but he learned that lawyers were needed to draft affidavits on behalf of the victims, and went to the Farsh Vihar relief camp[21] to help.

[27] To make the many documents and findings of Citizens Justice Committee on 1984 Sikh massacre available to the general public, Phoolka mooted the idea of the "Carnage84.com" website, which was launched 10 July 2001 and claimed 150,000 visits from people of 30 different countries within only 10 days of it going online.

[29] In the Lok Sabha election of 2014, he contested well from Ludhiana in Punjab on the Aam Admi Party (AAP) ticket but he lost to the Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu by 19,709 votes.

[30] Phoolka contested 2017 Punjab assembly elections and won the Dhaka constituency defeating Akali leader Manpreet Singh Ayali.

[6]Phoolka, along with human rights activist and journalist Manoj Mitta, has written the first account of the 1984 Anti-Sikh massacre in the form of a book titled When a Tree Shook Delhi.