The Punjab Human Right its Organisation received a complaint from the relatives of a 21-year old youth of Hoshiarpur district, Sarbjit Singh Johal, that he had died in police custody. In this connection, the PHRO also received a reference from the Asia Research Department of the International Secretariat of Amnesty international vide their letter of December 2, 1987.
The PHRO consequently constituted a two member enquiry committee comprising Dr. Rajinderpaul Singh, a sociologist and whole-time activist on human rights and Mr. Bhupinder Singh Somal, an advocate specializing in criminal law.
The committee visited Hoshiarpur and Amritsar districts and met relations of the deceased as well as several public men, journalists and the police. The first information report on the death was recorded by the Verowal police Station in Amritsar district but the police station authorities refused to part with the F.I.R. without assigning any reason. The enquiry committee despite its efforts also failed to obtain the post-mortem report. Since the incident has not been taken to the court, these two vital documents remain the private property of the police.
Sarbjit Singh was about 21-22 years of age. He belonged to Jauhal village of Hoshiarpur district. At the time of operation “Blue Star”, Sarbjit Singh was a student of B.A. (Part Il) at Government College, Tanda, Hoshiarpur district. He was a member of the All India Sikh Students Federation. He was first detained under the National Security Act as a precautionary measure and not for any specific charge against him. He was released from jail in 1986. Since the police was still iri the look out of some excuse to arrest him, the young man went underground. By then he was made President of Hoshiarpur district unit of the AISSF. Till then there was no case against him.
On September 10, 1987, Sarbjit Singh along with his sister and another girl, Manjit Kaur were travelling by a rickshaw from Chheharatta to Amritsar. The police blocked the rickshaw near the Hall Gate. The police took Sarbjit Singh in its custody and forcibly threw out his sister and the other girl who raised an alarm but in vain. It is believed that Sarbjit Singh was identified for the benefit of the police by one Bhupinder Singh Kandi who was already in police hands. According to any eye witness who refused to be mentioned in public the young man was arrested by the police and was soon removed to the Central Reserve Police Force torture camp near the Maal Mandi (cattle fairground), Amritsar.
Sarbjit Singh was so severely tortured that he had his bones fractured and limbs broken. He succumbed to his injuries on September 13, 1987. Next day, the dead body of Sarbjit Singh was thrown near Mallah village in Verowal police station area. The police announced that Sarbjit Singh had died in an “encounter” with the police. It was also claimed that the young man was responsible for the killings of Communist leaders of Hoshiarpur district, Darshan Singh Canadian and Chanan Singh Dhoot.
On the night of September 11, 1987, one Dharm Singh was killed by the Amritsar police in a fake encounter. The police also announced that an unnamed person escaped.
Next day, namely on September 12, 1987, the dead body of Sarbjit Singh was thrown near Mallah village in Verowal police station area in Amritsar district and the police stated that the young man had died as a result of an encounter.
According to an eye witness who wanted to stay anonymous, both the young men were killed by the Maal Mandi torture camp authorities on September 11, 1987. The police silenced the public opinion by stating that Sarbjit Singh was a “killer” of Communist leaders, Darshan Singh Canadian and Chanan Singh Dhoot.
The Committee is of the opinion that the death of Sarbjit Singh has been the result of a conspiracy hatched by senior police officers of Punjab. There is no question of any encounter with Sarbjit Singh. The young man was politically opposed to the views of the pro-Rajiv-Longowal accord politicians of Akali Dals. The Committee members were informed that the young man was not involved in any violent activity.
The committee is distressed to hear the account of the cold-blooded murder of Sarbjit Singh. It is further informed that hundreds of similar cases have occurred in Amritsar district which are crying out for an enquiry.
