7. BHUPINDER SINGH SOMAL ADVOCATE.

I, Bhupinder Singh Somal, Advocate, District Courts, Ludhiana, Punjab, do hereby solemnly declare and affirm as under:-

1. That I am married to a teacher, Mrs Tejinder Kaur, and have one son Shalinder Singh (6). I belong to a Jat Sikh agriculturist family settled at village Daulatpur, P.O.Malaud, District Ludhiana. We are a Joint family comprising my father S.Pal Singh, my mother Smt. Bhagwan Kaur, and my younger brothers Balwinder Singh and Kamljit Singh.
2. That I passed my Law Degree in 1977 from Rajasthan University, Jaipur. Since then I am practicing as an advocate here. I am conducting mostly criminal cases. After my marriage, I have settled at B-XX-1530,

New Prem Nagar, Ludhiana.

3. That I am an active member of the Punjab Sikh Lawyers Council and the Punjab Human Rights Organisation. Recently I alongwith Dr. Rajinder Pal Singh enquired into the death of Mr. Sarbjit Singh Johal who died in Police detention on September 12, 1987, as our organisation was asked by the Amnesty International to furnish information regarding the said death.
4. That I provide legal aid to the Sikhs involved in cases under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, (TADA>. I have conducted more than a dozen such cases where Sikh youths, particularly baptized Sikhs, were involved falsely.
5. That my younger brother late Mr. Gurdeep Singh (21) was studying in Second Year of Electrical Diploma at the Guru Nanak Engineering (G.N.E.) College, Ludhiana as a day scholar, during the Session 1987-88. He was an active member of the All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) GNE Ludhiana Unit. He was killed in a staged encounter by the Border Security Force (BSF) on September 4, 1987. He got baptized (took Amrit) at our village from the ‘Amrit Parchar Team’ of the Shromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in August 1984. Most of our family members are also baptized Sikhs including my younger sister aged 15 years.
6. That my late brother’s educational record was excellent. He was not in any way connected with violence. He was a most religious minded person used to say his daily prayers regularly.
7. That on September 1, 1986 at 4 p.m., a police party of 15 police officials headed by Ajaib Singh, Incharge of Police Station Payal District Ludhiana, raided our village residence. All of them were armed with Stenguns and rifles. They searched our house to find out Gurdeep Singh.
8. That on assurance by our family members and village respectable that the boy would be produced before the police in due course, the police withdrew from our village atter about two hours
9. That I alongwith my colleagues Mr. M.S.Mangat, and S. Bachan Singh Rai, Advocates produced Gurdeep Singh before the police at Police Station, Payal on 5.9.86.
10. That the police kept my brother in its illegal custody upto 30.9.66. During this period, he was subjected to severe physical torture. He was not provided with meals and was not allowed to sleep constantly tor three days and nights. During night, he was instructed to keep standing. He got high temperature due to torture and Harassment, and he was not given any medical aid. He was shirted to Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA) Ludhiana on 22.9.86 where he was again interrogated and tortured. He was tortured by pulling his legs apart and by putting an iron rod (“about one Quintal Weight) and two persons stood on it. He was finally threatened to be killed in a staged encounter in case he did not disassociate from A.I.S.S.F.

On 25.9,86 he was again shirted to Police Station Payal and was kept there upto 30.9. 86.

11. That he was charged under Section 107, 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code for pasting wall-posters and instigating the public to observe a “Black Diwali”. This call to observe a Black Diwali was given by the Punjab Human Rights Organisation. The people were asked not to celebrate Diwali festival as on that day as thousands or Sikhs were massacred following the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
12. That he was produced before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Khanna, Mr. B.D. Aggarwal, on 30.9.87. This was the first time that he was produced before any magistrate. The magistrate remanded him in judicial custody and sent him to Ludhiana Central Jail.
13. That on 14.11.66, he was discharged by the learned court after knowing that he was only charged for his civil liberty activities connected with the P.H.R.O.
14. That he was again picked up on 3.1.87 by the Police Post Malaud, interrogated and released on 6.1.67 as nothing was found against him.
15. That on 2U0.3.87, he was produced by us before Sh. Manjit Singh, Station House Ur1icer, Jehlon as the Area Deputy Superintendent Police Mr. Raj Kishen Bedi had sent me a message to do so. He was badly tortured as before and finally set him tree after two days on 22.3.87.
16. That on 23.3.87 at 2.30 a.m. (Night) my residence at Ludhiana was raided and searched by a 40 strong police party headed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Daljit Singh. They enquired about my brother The raid lasted two hours. They recorded my statement. Nothing objectionable was found from my residence.
17. That my brother continued attending classes upto June 2, 1987, till he was again called for further investigation and interrogation by Manjit Singh, SHO, Sadar Police Station, Ludhiana, On June 3, 1987, my brother visited my office at the courts and frankly refused to further co-operate with me for his production before the police as he could not bear any further torture. There-after out of fear he went underground till he was killed by the police.
18. That during the period my brother remained underground my parents and other members of the family were repeatedly subjected to harassment, humiliation, intimidation and torture.
19. That during these three months my father was kept in illegal custody tor more than two months on different occasions. The police party occasionally used to raid our village residence manhandle my mother and other female members besides abusing them in presence of the villagers.
20. That the police destroyed our crops, removed electric motors and diesel engines from our tube-wells and forced our agricultural labour to leave our farm. Because of these repressive activities of the police we had to surter a huge monetary loss.
21. That my Ludhiana residence was also raided twice during this period.
22. That when persons like me are not spared how can we trust the Indian State that it will deal with Ranjit Singh Gill and Sukhminder Singh Sandhu allegedly involved in the murder of Army Chief General Vadya according to law

I am, therefore, of the opinion that these Sikh youngmen should not be extradited to India as they are likely to be tortured, detained in jail without trial tor years or in any way eliminated as is the practice here.

Ludhiana December 25, 1987.