The Punjab Human Rights Organization constituted a 3-member Sub-committee consisting of Dr. Rajinder Paul Singh(Sociologist), Mr. Mohinder singh Jawanda, and Mr. Gurcharan Singh Ghuman, Advocate; to enquire into the killings of 10 Sikh young men in an alleged encounter on August 30, 1986, with the Border Security Force(B.S.F.) in Dera Baba Nanak Sector of Gurdaspur district. It was the biggest killings of the so called terrorists by the security forces since the Punjab Director General of Police Mr. J.F. Reberio took charge of the combined forces of BSF and CRPF deployed in Punjab.

The police claimed that the dead included Mr. Gurinder Singh alias Jinda of Bhagowal and Mr. Surta Singh of Harchowal, both belonging to Gurdaspur district, who were allegedly in the “B plus” category of the terrorists in the police record carrying award of Rs. 50,000/- each on their heads. It was further claimed that the identity of the remaining alleged terrorists could not be established as none came forward to claim their bodies.

It was asserted that the alleged encounter took place when about 10 persons were trying to enter India from Pakistan crossing over the Ravi in the Dera Baba Nanak sector.

However, the public at large disbelieved the official version of the incident and stated that Sikh youths were already in the custody of the security forces and they were murdered by the BSF. A highly placed Punjab Government official confirmed the people’s belief before a Journalist that the victims were already in the custody of the security forces.

This large scale killings of the Sikh youth in one go, caused acute embarrassment to the Punjab Chief Minister, Surjit Singh Barnala who reacted sharply by announcing a Ministerial Committee to enquire into the incident. This official committee reported that the young men were killed in a fake encounter. The two member enquiry panel appointed by the Akali Dal led by Mr. Parkash Singh Badal , former chief minister of Punjab, was also of the same opinion and described the incident as cold blooded murder.

 Even the Amritsar police who had gone to the pot to identify the dead, maintained that the killings were “uncalled for”. Furthermore, Mr. P.P.S. Gill of The Tribune reported that the killed young men were already with the security forces the previous night.

To resolve the issue and clear the cobwebs of doubt, the P.H.R.O. enquiry panel after coopting Mr. G.P. Singh, Advocate (Hebowal), Mr. Kanwaljit Singh Sandhu (Secretary, Bar Association, Baba Bakala), Mr. Swinder Singh Randhawa, Advocate (Batala) and Mr. Major Singh Kler (Former President, Bar Association, Baba Bakala) visited the Dera Baba Nanak sector, inspected the place of occurrence of the incidents and enquired from several villagers.

The team tried to contact the BSF men but they were informed by BSF officials present there that the “concerned Battalion” had already been transferred. The committee also met Mr. Gurmail singh, S.H.O. of Dera Baba Nanak where the F.I.R. was lodged by a B.S.F. Sub-Inspector Dula Singh.

The enquiry team contacted more than 100 people of the villages of Ratter Chhettar, Golla Dholla, Dharam Kot, Shehzadan, Thetherke, Bhagowal, Harchowal, Leel Kalan, Buttar, Batala, Harsha Chhina, Ghania and Sultanwind area Amritsar including a reputed man of the area Pundit Dev Raj, Sarpanch(village head) of Golla Dholla village.

The Committee recorded the statements of Mr. Inder Singh, ex-Serviceman and member Panchayat, Mr Sunder Singh, a priest, Mr. Lakhwinder Singh, Mr. Amrik Singh, a Jathedar of Dera Baba Nanak, the wife of Mr. Harbhajan Singh Randhawa of Dharamkot and mother of Mr. Amrik Singh of Ghania who are alleged to have identified the dead bodies. The committee also interviewed some journalists who had visited the spot. Observations of several others who did not want to be identified were also recorded.

Mostly the people of the border area are fearful of BSF repression usually let loose while the villagers work in their fields. Hindus, Christians and Harijans were equally feeling terrorised by the security forces.

 Place of occurrence

 The place of occurrence is about 1.5 km away from the 500-metre border belt which remains under curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The alleged encounter took placed in the field of Mr. Gurcharan Singh, ex-Sarpanch of village Thetherke near the Road Picket of BSF adjoining villages, Ratter Chhettar, Golla Dholla, Dharamkot, Shehzadan and Ghania in the Dera Baba Nanak police station of Gurdaspur district.

 This picket was manned by the BSF Battalion-18, headed by its Commander Mr. Chhabra who had been shifted immediately after the occurrence of this incident. All the surrounding villages except Dharamkot lie on the outskirts of the “Dhussi” bund(flood barrier) of the Ravi which is about 1 km East of Indo-Pak border. The riverine tract is such that any person coming across the river must get his feet muddy.

The place of occurrence is quite visible from the old ferry at Dharamkot. Some Indian territory also lies across the Ravi towards Pakistan and the cultivators visit their fields on permission granted by the BSF. They always feel under the grip of death while passing through this zone to get permission chits from the BSF pickets.

 Official version of the incident

 According to F.I.R. No. 182 dated 30.8.86 U/S 307 IPC, 25.54/59 Arms Act and the Passport Act, registered at Police Station, Dera Baba Nanak on the basis of a written complaint of Mr. S.S. Shah, for the Commandant of Battalion 18, the alleged encounter took place in village Thetherke at 4.30 a.m. on 30.8.1986, while the Director General Police Mr. Rebeiro reported that the encounter continued from 2.30 to 4.30 a.m. The B.S.F. alleged, that more than 10 Pak-trained Sikh youths were coming from Pakistan armed with rifles, sten guns, pistols and revolvers, and when challenged by BSF Naka(patrol) Party they opened fire and the encounter took place in which one group of 10 persons was killed while the other retreated into Pakistan using a boat.

The Local police claimed that BSF handed over one hand grenade, two .12 country made pistols and one country made .303 pistol to the police, the D.G.P. did not confirm the local police’s version to the Press on the same day in the evening at Chandigarh.

According to the Gurdaspur S.S.P., Mr. J.P. Virdi, the alleged intruders used two tractor tubes for 5 persons each to cross the river. Contradicting both the above versions, Mr. Virdi claimed that 3 rifles of .303 bore and one hand grenade were recovered from the person of the dead while his D.I.G. Mr. P.C.Dogra after visiting the spot disclosed that the recovery was of one hand grenade and three revolvers.

 The people’s version of the incident

 The people of the Dera Baba Nanak sector were so afraid of the BSF that they talked in hushed tones and did not like to disclose their names saying If our names are known to the BSF, we shall have to face yet another “fake encounter”. However, some persons did come forward to speak about the facts of the incident.

An important witness from village Ratter Chatter in confidence described the incident saying, “At about 6 p.m. on August 29 the BSF reached the village, clamped curfew, threatened the villagers of dire consequences in case anybody dared to come out of their doors. People feared the repetition of an earlier incident wherein one mentally deranged “Kaddu”, a Christian, was killed in fake encounter, a couple of days earlier. At about 8 p.m. two motor vehicles passed on the close-by “Dhussi” bund while cries of “Bachao, Bachao”(help), were heard from one of the vehicles. I also heard two shots fired from that side.”

“After 5.30 next morning I heard a burst of fire accompanied by some noise and cries. People climbed the “Dhussi” and heard some firing from one weapon. Only the BSF Jawans were visible. We proceeded further at about 7 a.m. but even then the BSF gave us a beating to disperse us. Several persons including Pundit Hari was injured. We were not allowed to visit our fields. But after 10 a.m. some persons of Gholla Dholla informed us that the BSF had killed 10 persons and the dead bodies have been taken away in the cart of Satnam Singh.”

Mr. Inder Singh, ex-serviceman and a member of the Gholla Dholla panchayat, who was also beaten up by the BSF ccrroborated the above statement adding further, that he being an ex-serviceman, was confident that the firing was one-sided and with one weapon. Some BSF Jawans took them along with the cart of Satnam Singh to load the dead bodies. Nine dead bodies were lying in the open field of Mr. Gurcharan Singh of village Thetherke within an area of 1 marla while the 10th was a little away. Some of the dead persons had their shoes on but none of them had any marks of slush etc. nor were their clothes wet. Everyone of them was wearing brand new ‘gatras’. Some dead bodies with broken limbs appeared decomposed.

Mr. Satnam Singh, the cartman of the Gholla Dholla, corroborating the statement of Mr. Inder Singh “Fauji” added that the dead bodies were lifted from the “field” and taken to the BSF picket in his cart. He also confirmed, that some dead bodies were decomposed with limbs broken and the skin from the back of one was peeled off badly.

Bhai Sunder Singh, a priest of Shehzad Kalan in the presence of more than 100 persons gathered in the village Gurdwara, nearly repeated the versions of a witness of Ratter Chhatter village and Mr. Inder Singh “Fauji”. None of the audience contradicted his statement. Almost everybody present there was of the view that the persons were already in the BSF custody and they had been killed after having been interrogated.

Jathedar of Dera Baba Nanak, Mr. Amrik Singh stated that he had seen the dead bodies before their post-mortem examination. All bore severe injuries and had shot wounds on upper parts of the bodies. The corpses of Mr. Surta Singh, Harbhajan Singh Shaheed and Kulwant Singh were quite decomposed with legs and arms fractured and the skin on their backs was peeled off. He also revealed that “Kaddu” was also killed in fake encounter by the same unit of the BSF.

A close confidant of Jathedar Amrik Singh claimed that Mr. Surta Singh Harchowal never visited Pakistan and had been trying to surrender for the last few months. He had approached Jathedar Amrik Singh a few weeks earlier for this purpose and this fact was brought to the notice of the Ministerial team in presence of the senior officers. He disclosed, that the government enquiry was conducted in the presence of high police officials, where “mufti” clad(civil dress) BSF persons were noting down the names of the witnesses with brief notes. He further revealed that there were 12 youths in the custody of B.S.F. which sent two of them to collect ransom money at the rate of Rs. 1000/- per head. The two could not arrange the money and did not return. Meanwhile the B.S.F. came to know the identity of Surta Singh and Harbhajan Singh Shaheed who were tortured and killed in captivity. He further boasted to know the young man who went to collect the ransom money.

The Dera Baba Nanak SHO, Mr. Gurmail Singh expressed his inability to show the F.I.R., and copies of the post-mortem reports of the youth. He, however, showed photographs of Kulwant Singh, Surta Singh and Harbhajan Singh Shaheed. As regards the other snaps, he disclosed that they had been taken away by the senior officers. The SHO admitted that “Kaddu” was an insane person but the BSF had killed him in a fake encounter and a case under section 307 was registered against him at the police station.

Out of 10 killed, eight were identified as per police record. The addresses of two were incomplete while Harbhajan Singh Shaheed, Surta Singh and Kulwant Singh were allegedly wanted by the police. The remaining three were Gurinder Singh of Bhagowal, Harinder Singh of Sultanwind (Amritsar) and Harbhajan Singh of Harsha Chhina.

Gurinder Singh shown as “B plus” category terrorist is claimed to be alive by the “identifiers” and his parents. The respectable of Sultanwind and Harsha Chhina claimed that Narinder Singh and Harbhajan Singh had never taken part in any subversive activity nor were they members of any extremist group. It was a mystery as to why they were captured and killed.

 FINDINGS

 Just as in case of every crime some tell-tale marks are left behind, the P.H.R.O. probe team after inspecting the place of occurrence and collecting evidence has found many such clues and signs.

  1. a) Timing : The D.G.P. Punjab, fixes the time of “encounter” between 2.30 a.m. and 4.30 a.m. while the F.I.R. mentions the time at 4.30 a.m. The correct time of occurrence on the basis of evidence available is about 6 a.m. As a matter of fact, the victims were already in the custody of the B.S.F. and were brought to the spot at about 9 p.m. the previous evening when the residents of the surrounding villages heard the cries of the victims for help from the running motor vehicle. b) Place of ingress : The BSF claims that two extremist groups crossed the river into India. One comprising 10 persons crossed the river using two rubber tubes while the other was in a boat.

The river nearby is shallow and the cultivators cross the river on foot to look after their crops on the other side. Anybody crossing the river would certainly get his clothes wet, feet/shoes muddy because of the swampy nature of the place.

But there were no signs of any slush on their feet/shoes nor were their clothes wet which evidently reveals that none of the victims had crossed the river. The use of rubber tubes or a boat appears a mere concoction.

  1. c) Recovery of arms and ammunition: There is confusion amongst the officials about the number and kind of arms recovered from the person of the victims. None of the officers has so far claimed to have recovered live or empties of any ammunition from the place of occurrence. Probably the B.S.F. forgot that the weapons allegedly recovered could not fire without the use of ammunition. Had the victims any firearm, they would have used the hand grenade at least while no member of B.S.F. party had any injury. It proves that the victims were unarmed.
  2. d) Position of the Dead : The position of the dead bodies lying in an area of 1 marla clear land rules out the “encounter theory”. Three of the dead bodies were quite decomposed, with limbs fractured and skins peeled off, which shows that these persons were earlier killed by torture while the others were slain at point-blank range in cold blood.
  3. e) Identification and Cremation : Out of the ten victims, the eight are claimed to have been identified. As parents and guardians of Gurinder Singh claim him to be alive, some other person whose identity is being concealed, has been presumably murdered in the name of Gurinder Singh. Despite claims of their relatives, the dead bodies other than of Surta Singh were not handed over to them. All this was probably done to conceal the signs of torture on the dead bodies.
  4. f) Photographs : All photographs except those of Surta Singh, Harbhajan Singh Shaheed and Kulwant Singh had been removed away from the police record. This included even those two unidentified persons. It is yet another mystery. The question is who were these unfortunate persons. This demands a deeper judicial probe.

CONCLUSIONS

 The P.H.R.O. Sub-Committee after inspecting the spot and analyzing the evidence available with the committee, relying upon its own findings, comes to the following conclusions :

1) The Committee is unable to believe the “encounter theory” propagated by the B.S.F. and high officials of the police as there is sufficient evidence to believe the fact that the victims were already in the custody of the B.S.F. So the Committee did not feel inclined to go into the facts and circumstances leading to the arrest, surrender or capturing of the victims by the security forces.

2) The killings of the Sikh youths in a “staged encounter” appear to be a retaliatory action against an incident wherein 4 B.S.F. persons were injured when certain extremists allegedly ambushed B.S.F. pickets at Gidderpindi and Kabirpur on the Jalandhar-Kapurthala Road, a couple of days earlier.

3) The Committee rules out the B.S.F. story that the victims were entering India after crossing over the Ravi from Pakistan. Because there were no signs of wetness or, slush on the feet, shoes, legs and clothes of the victims, there was also no reason or necessity for the victims to carry the huge tractor-tubes along up to a distance of 1.5 km from the flowing water.

4) The Committee is of the opinion that the 10 Sikh youngmen were murdered by the BSF as there is no evidence available to brush aside the facts stated above. The Committee further feels concerned and is anxious to know as to why no BSF person was injured in the “encounter” when they were allegedly attacked by two extremist groups numbering more than 10 armed with pistols, revolvers, sten-guns and hand grenades and further as to how could it be that almost all the victims were killed in an area of 1 marla clear land even though the “encounter” allegedly continued from 2.30 to 4.30 a.m. (2 hours) at night.

5) The Committee views this episode as apart of a deep-rooted conspiracy of the Centre and its “collaborators” to annihilate the Sikh youth by security forces and to terrorise the people particularly belonging to the border districts of Punjab. The killings of four Sikh youngmen by the BSF in the Khemkaran sector immediately thereafter is yet another pointer towards this direction. It is further intrigued that the BSF instead of engaging itself to protect the borders has started butchering their own people just to oblige the anti-Sikh bureaucracy among the civil and para-military services.