During a visit to the District jail at Nabha in December 1984, Justice S.S.Sodhi of Punjab and Haryana High Court, heard complaints from detenus lodged there that they were being transferred to Lakha Kothi, a new jail in Sangrur district in small batches where they were systematically tortured in the course of their interrogation. Justice Sodhi directed the District and Sessions Judge of Patiala to enquire.
The report of the inquiry conducted by the District and Sessions Judge confirmed these allegations. Relying on the data supplied by the Deputy Superintendent of Nabdha Jail, the Sessions Judge determined that 92 prisoners had been taken out from the jail for the purpose of interrogation to Ladha Kothi between the period 30.8.1984 and 11.1.1985.
The Judge recorded the statements of six detenus who had returned from Ladha Kothi. Their statements revealed a common pattern of systematic torture inflicted on detenus who were brought to Ladha Kothi for the purpose of their interrogation. Prisoners transferred to Ladha Kothi were kept in solitary confinement all the 24 hours, except when taken out for interrogation and torture. The District and Sessions Judge also reported that the Superintendent Jail was in fact a police officer who had been designated to the post and also that the portion of the jail where the detenus were confined was guarded py the personnel of C.R.P.F. No doctor was attached to the jail and the Pasic facilities of sanitation, food etc, were conspicuous by their absence. The judge concluded that Ladha Kothi was just an interrogation center lacking even in the bare trappings of a jail.
The District and Sessions Judge, Patiala, held another inquiry into the allegations of torture inflicted on NSA detenus when the Supreme Court, acting on a writ petition (Criminal) 378 of 1985 filed by Mrs. Kamla Devi Chattopadhyay, asked him to do so. The judge recorded statements of 14 detenus who had been interrogated at Ladha Kothi. The statements corroborated the findings of the earlier inquiry. Following is an excerpt from his report.
“After a round of the premises I gathered the impression that it was just an interrogation center and was not a jail. The staff posted at Ladha Kothi jail did not belong to jail department of the State. They were either members of the Punjab police or belonged to C.R.P.F. None of the facilities which are provided to the detenus under the Punjab Detenus (Conditions of Detention) Order 1981 were available at Ladha Kothi jail. The detenus were not provided cots or bedding. Even blankets were not provided to give them shelter against cold. The detenus were kept in handcuffs and shut up in cell type of rooms. They were forced to urinate and ease themselves inside these rooms. Food was not of the requisite quality nor was the same properly cooked.”
The report also mentioned that “At one time in this jail there were eight children who had been detained under NSA. Out of them four have been released; three have been shifted to other places and the only minor namely Gurmeet Singh son of Gurbux Singh was found confined in the jail. Two women inmates of this jail have since been shifted to Jodhpur.”
Another Habeas Corpus petition was moved in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana by S.Harbans Singh Ghuman, Ex.MLA two of whose sons, Jasbir Singh and Randhir Singh were lodged at Jodhpur Jail. Acting on this petition Justice S.S.Sodhi passed an order on 16.9.1985 appointing Mr.S.S.Dhanoa, advisor to the Punjab Governor to conduct an inquiry in relation to torture of detenus at Ladha Kothi. The order required him to recommend such consequential action as might be called for on the basis of his findings.
On 25.10.1985, the High Court modified the above mentioned order by appointing Justice C.S.Tiwana, retired Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, to conduct the inquiry in place of Mr. S.S.Dhanoa. The modification had become necessary because S.S.Dhanoa had in the meanwhile been transferred out of Punjab. A popular Government had come into power on 29.9.1985.
The government of Punjab notified appointment of this one member Commission of Inquiry under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1952 on 29.11.1985.
Scope of the inquiry
The Commission limited its inquiry to the period from 30.8.1984 to 11.1.1985 already dealt with an inquiry conducted by the District and Sessions Judge. The Commission clarified that “this inquiry has been conducted in relation to a particular period. It does not mean that prior to the period in question and after that no torture of detenus took place.” Most of these detenus had been arrested in June 1984 in the wake of the Army action in Punjab from the Golden Temple, Amritsar and Gurdwara Dukha Niwaran, Patiala.
Several officials of the Punjab Government; Superintendents of District Jail Nabha and Ladha Kothi, and twenty eight other police officials who had been posted at Ladha Kothi filed their affidavits before the Commission. All the detenus who had been taken to Ladha kothi for interrogation during the period in question likewise filed their affidavits. The Commission took six months to complete the inquiry and submitted its report on 30.5.1986.
Modes of torture
Many of the detenus were able to identify their torturers by name. Modes of torture included rotation of a thick pestle over the thighs of detenus with one or two persons standing on it after the detenus were mace to lie down on the floor prostrate or supine: stretching the legs apart at the ankle level to the unbearable extent while the detenus were made to sit on the floor with some persons supporting their backs with their knees and pulling their hair backwards typing of faecal matter around their mouths: application of electric current on their bodies etc.
The motive in torturing the detunus
The Commission concluded that: “The initial detention of several persons being illegal and none of them having been produced before a magistrate within twenty four hours of their arrest, the Government thought it better to pass orders of detention under the National Security Act…I am of the view that this kind of decision was taken by the Government that by interrogation to the detenus it should be found out whether any of them could be connected with any criminal offence. This necessitated the torture of detenus at the Ladha Kothi jail.” It was for this reason that the interrogation Centre at Lagna Kotn was declared a jail by a notification dated 31.5.1984. The same day, Superintendent Police and Deputy Superintendent Police, in charge of the interrogation Centre were declared the Superintendent and the Deputy Superintendent of the Jail respectively.
The commission cited the affidavit of Shri Ajit Kumar, Special Secretary (Home) to Government of Punjab to corroborate this conclusion. It said: “It was necessary to interview these detenus in an atmosphere free from the immediate effect and vicinity of a large number of persons suspected to have act2¢ similarly with the same motivation.” The Commission opined that: “It appears from his (Ajit Kumar) affidavit that the detenus were to be tortured at 2 siace where their cries in agony could not be heard by anybody outside the premises of torture. A palatial house at Ladha as built by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala as a place for recreation away from any habitation. It was on account of its location at a lonely place that it was considered by the Government to be a fit place for the interrogation of criminals. It has thus converted into a jail so that detenus could be detained there and tortured.”
Recommendations
The Commission suggested action against twenty police officials, identified as having personally inflicted torture on various detenus, under different provisions of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules 1970. It further suggested that the detenus who had been tortured at Ladha Kothi be monetarily compensated. It recommended minimum of Rs 10,000 to 77 detenus; Rs.15,000 to 11 detenus who had been brought to Ladha Kothi twice and had also been tortured at Patiala and Nabha jails and Rs.20,000 each to two detenus.
(It is a summary of the report of C.S.Tiwana Commission of Inquiry. A full report is being published separately. Mr Justice C.S. Tiwana(Retired) is now the President of the P.H.R.O.)
