The Punjab Human Rights Organization in a report claimed 73 killings of Sikh youths in fake encounters in Amritsar district between May 12 and August 22, 1987.
The report was released at a Press conference held at Chandigarh by the PHRO Chairman, Justice Ajit Singh Bains and Vice Chairman, Mr Sukhdev Singh.
The report, the two office-bearers of the organization said, was based on-the-spot studies conducted by a team of civil rights activists namely Mr D.S.GiII, Mr Malwinder Singh Mali, Dr. Rajinder Paul Singh, Dr Jiwan Jyot Kaur and Mr Gurbhajan Singh Gill.
The Punjab Police chief, Mr J.F. Rebeiro, admits only 55 deaths in “genuine encounters” He also states that 18 others died of as a result of “inter-gang” clashes on the West Bengal pattern.
The PHRO, however, asserts that all the deaths have occurred either in police custody or in staged police encounters. These excesses have been confirmed by the public when the team members visited the villages in question.
Referring to the Police chief’s invitation to furnish him a list of any fake encounters as well as proof to support the charge, Justice Bains and Sukhdev Singh stated that at least two cases had been brought to the notice of the enquiry group where even those making such charges had been done to death. People wonder as to how proof could be supplied to those who scarcely conceal these cold-blooded murders. Only an impartial enquiry by a serving judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court could bring out the truth and the public will co-operate with such a panel.
The PHRO claimed that even Mr Rebeiro was aware of the legal pitfalls his adventurist policy was likely to entail one day. That was why , they stated, the police chief had started collecting affidavits in his favour. But such manoeuvres could not hide the ugly face of State terrorism in Punjab. Mr Rebeiro’s repeated the claim that no “innocent” had been killed in encounters” was itself an implied admission of the guilt.
Bains and Sukhdev Singh stated that they were in a position to disclose the exact places from where 26 youths were picked up by the police and killed in fake encounters. All those youths were identified and the public had proof of their arrests. Twenty nine other youths killed in the alleged encounters remained unidentified. The enquiry committee visited all those places. It was discovered that the security forces did not have to suffer a scratch in all those incidents. People living in the vicinity of the alleged happenings do not bear out the police story.
The PHRO stated that there was no positive evidence to suggest that any person had been killed as a result of group clashes. Actually in most of the claimed incidents the public suspect a foul play on the part of the security forces. In a few cases the Amritsar district police chief stated even before officially identifying the victims that the dead “looked like” dreaded terrorists.
The PHRO said that the current policy of liquidation of Sikh youths was creating grave communal tensions with inevitable deadly repercussions on community relation in the State and elsewhere. Most of the stray or chosen Targets of Sikh youths were evidently the outcome of the State’s repressive policy. This vicious circle must come to an end.
The PHRO appealed to the right thinking leaders of national and regional political parties. workers of civil rights movements, enlightened leaders of Punjabi Hindus and the Press to intervene in favour of sanity. There must be an end to bloodshed in Punjab.
The PHRO added that the report by its activists was ‘interim”. Further investigations were continuing. It could safely be stated that many times more deaths had taken place in Punjab than admitted officially by the Police.
