Sukhdev Singh, being duly sworn, deposes and says:

  1. I am a resident of house No. 707 Sector 7-B, Chandigarh, the capital of the State of Punjab, India. I am submitting this affidavit in the support of the above named defendants who are resisting extradition to India. In an effect to aid this tribunal, I offer the following information:
  2. I am 47. My profession is journalism. I am a post-graduate of Punjab University, Chandigarh, having done my M.A. in Economics. I have to my credit experience of more than 25 years journalism. I have had association with such important newspapers and news agencies as Nawan Zamana, Jalandhar, India Press Agency, New Delhi, The Economic Times, New Delhi, Blitz, Bombay, The Tribune, Chandigarh, and Dignity, Chandigarh, in various desk/ reporting positions.
  3. In addition, I have had the privilege of being the founder- Secretary of the Chandigarh Union of Journalists, founder-President of The Tribune Employees Union, founder-Secretary General of the Chandigarh Press Club and Vice-Chairman of Punjab Human Rights Organisation, Chandigarh.
  4. I moved in the Punjab and Haryana High Court an application for anticipatory bail on January 9, 1986, vide Criminal Misc No. 228M of 1986 apprehending imminent arrest at the hands of the Indian police for possible reasons stated therein. The Government-controlled Union Territory, Chandigarh, administration that they had no case against me.
  5. Despite this solemn statement, the Indian Government through its administration at Chandigarh raided my house on the morning of March 12, 1966, and arrested me without showing me any arrest warrant. I was later told in the police post, Sector 26, Chandigarh, that a criminal case- (F.I.R. No. 122/86 ) has been registered against me.
  6. I was remanded in judicial custody and was kept in Chandigarh district jail until September 4, 1986. The case having been registered under Sections 3 and 4 of the dreaded Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act 1985, bail was refused to me by courts due to opposition from the State to such concession.
  7. While I was in detention, three more criminal cases were registered against me vide F.1.R. Nos. 129/86, 130/86 and 179/86 by the Sector 26 police.
  8. Several leaders of the trade unions, political parties, and social and journalist organisations condemned the arrest and registration of criminal cases as an attack on freedom of Press.
  9. My newspaper, Dignity, through a series of articles and editorials carried by it prior to my arrest stood for peaceful resolution of problems and against resort to violence either by the State or by individuals and against communal hatred on the part of various communities and for a federal structure within the broad framework of Indian unity. Some of these articles and editorials are reproduced in the form to an affidavit which I brought on the record of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on April 17, 1986.
  10. Despite this, the Government of India was bent upon keeping me behind bars and to suppress the voice of Dignity which after my arrest had to be suspended. The Government was determined to humiliate me in the eyes ot the public so that other journalists were warned against independent writings or writings critical of the Government of India. An expression of the Government’s intention is the Press interview by Mr. K. Banarji, Adviser to the Chief Administrator of Chandigarh
  11. The Indian Supreme Court regarded my case eminent enough to order that it be disposed of within one month. Otherwise, the court held, I was tree to go to it for bail, an extraordinary concession to me by the highest judicial forum in India despite the dreaded Terrorist Act. The order finally forced the Government to withdraw the case against me and the Designate Court ordered my release.
  12. I am still facing three criminal cases. I am at present on bail. None of these three cases has been withdrawn by the Government.
  13. After my release on September 4, 1986, I was constantly shadowed by the police agents. A police constable named Baldev Singh remained on this duty.
  14. I do believe that the Indian State is intolerant of an independent Press and is determined to crush civil liberties and human rights of persons like me who are not anyway connected with any political party, group or in Punjab or elsewhere.
  15. Considering my own example and keeping in mind the general policy of the Government of India towards human rights and constitutional norms, I apprehend grave danger to the lives of defendants. In any case they are most likely to be tortured and denied ordinary procedures of justice available to other Indians.

Chandigarh

October 7, 1987.