I, (Dr.) Ajit Singh Sidhu s/o Jowala Singh Sidhu, aged 57years and resident of House No, 8/28 at the Campus of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, Punjab, India, do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under: –

  1. That I passed my B.Sc. (Agric) in 1950 and M.Sc. (Agric.) in 1959 from the Punjab University, Chandigarh, I got my Ph.D. degree in Entomology from the PAU Ludhiana in April 1968. I worked as a post- doctorate Fellow of the Ford Foundation at the University of California, Berkeley (USA) for one year during 1972.
  2. I joined the Entomology Department of the PAU in October 1962. I have served with this University as Assistant Professor from October 1962 to July 1968, as an associate professor from August 1968 to April 1973 and as Professor of Entomology since 19th May , 1973 to date. I am the senior most Professors in my department which has a total teaching faculty of 104 members. I also served as Head of the Department of Entomology from November 1975 to 1980.
  3. My job responsibility is to guide research work on insect pests of cotton conducted by 10 junior faculty members and post-graduate students and teaching Economic Entomology course to M.Sc. and Ph.D. students. I also advise and help the Punjab Government in devising appropriate strategy for the control of insect pests of cotton every year,
  4. I am a member the All-India Entomology Panel of the Indian Council of Agriculture. Research which scrutinizes and monitors the progress of different entomological projects funded by the Government of India.
  5. I am a life-member of the Entomological Society of India, Ecological Society of India and the Plant Protection Association of India. I have been the President of the Punjab Chapter of Entomological Society of India from 1973 to 1985. I am currently a member of the Editorial Board of the Pesticides Journal of India for the last 10 years.
  6. I own 16 acres of agricultural land in a village about 20 Km. from Ludhiana, I also own a house (21-F) in Gurdev Nagar locality which is adjacent to the PAU.
  7. I married Palwinder Kaur in 1950. We have one daughter and three sons. Our daughter, Miss Rajinder Kaur Sidhu, is the youngest (aged24), She is now a final year student of M.Sc. (Zoology) in the PAU.

Our eldest son Sarbjit Singh Sidhu (aged 33) got his M.Sc, (Agric.) from the PAU in 1978 and migrated in 1980 to Vancouver, B.C. Canada where my elder brother and three sisters are living for the last 20 years,

Our second son Gurjit Singh Sidhu (aged 28) studied upto B.Sc. (Agric) at the PAU and went to California (USA) in February 1986. Our third son Daljit Singh Sidhu (aged 26) was a final year student of B.Sc. (Veterinary Sciences) at the PAU Ludbiana in July 1985 when alongwith his friends Ranjit Singh Gill and Sukhminder Singh Sandhu, he was implicated on 9th July 1985 in a false case by the Punjab Police for an attempted murder of Mr. A.P. Pande, Senior Superintendent Police, Ludbiana (which was found to be a “fabricated” case by a Committee headed by the retired Punjab High Court Judge Mr. A.S. Bains) and the murder of Harjit Singh and Rattan Singh on 12th July, 1985 which case was later on withdrawn by the Punjab Government for want of evidence. Daljit Singh absconded at that time and we have never been able to contact him thereafter.

  1. We were living our own house 21-F, Gurdev Nagar, Ludhiana since the time of its construction in 1967. About 15 members of the Punjab Police raided our house on 9th July 1985 at about 3 p.m. for apprehending Daljit Singh Sidhu. They were all heavily armed carrying various types of fire arms including stenguns, rifles and revolvers. Daljit Singh was not at home that time. The Policemen searched our house and behaved very rudely with us. I was forced to accompany the raiding party to the Police Station where I was unlawfully detained for two days without any warrant of arrest. I was abused and threatened a number of times during interrogation. The Police, however, could find nothing incriminating against me. I was let out on the evening of 10th July, 1985 when my faculty colleagues from the PAU met the higher district authorities. Thereafter, the police have been raiding our house once or twice every week at odd hours (sometimes even at mid-night). The strength of the police raiding parties varied from 5-20 on different occasions. Every time they carried fire arms of various categories. They searched our house each time illegally and their behavior was always rude and threatening whenever we asked them to show search warrants.

Due to frequent harassment by the police, we left our own house in Gurdev Nagar locality and shifted to a rented house (No.8/28) at the PAU Campus where my faculty colleagues can render help to our family at the time of the police raids.

  1. I am sure that even now all my post is being illegally censored and our house is being kept under surveillance by the Intelligence Wing of the Punjab Police.
  2. I leave it to the U.S. court and the American public opinion to decide the matters only after a mature consideration of the issue at stake.

Ludhiana:

October 10, 1987.