I, Dr. Rajinder Paul Singh s/o Gurdas Singh, aged 44 years, resident of village Aasi Kalan, District Ludhiana, Punjab, do hereby solemnly declare and affirm as under: –

  1. That I am a Batchelor of Arts (B.A.), Master of Arts (M.A.Sociology?) and Registered Medical Practitioner. I am a married man and have two children. My son is serving in the Indian Army and my daughter is married.
  2. That I joined the Communist Party of India (C.P.I.) in 1960, and worked as sub-editor of the Daily ‘Nawa Zamana’ runs by the C.P.I. for two years.
  3. That I was employed in Government Service in the Health Department from 1963 to 1966. I played a leading role in the Naxalite movement from 1966 to 1970.
  4. That I started medical practice in 1970 alongwith other social activities and did agriculture farming at Shiv Puri, Madhya Pardesh State.
  5. That I was a founder member of the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Delhi and remained its active member upto 1983.
  6. That I was arrested on February 7, 1984 from my Shivpuri farm by the Ropar (Punjab) Police and involved in five false cases concerning the past Naxalite activities. After an enquiry, all the criminal cases against me were withdrawn by the Home Minister, Government of Punjab, in July 19686.
  7. That I shifted to Punjab and joined the civil liberties activities with the organization headed by Mr. Justice A.S. Bains. We started mobilizing public opinion by convening public rallies under aegis of the Anti-Repression Co-ordination Committee (ARCC) of which I was General Secretary. The first convention by our organization was held at Gandhi Bhavan, Sector 16, Chandigarh on August 3, 1986, where civil liberties activists from all over India including Mr. Justice V.M.Tarkunde, Dr. Aurbindo Ghosh, Prof. Rajni Kothri were invited.
  8. That I am a coordinator of the Punjab Human Rights Organization on behalf of the Indian Peoples Front (IPF) led by known Indian Naxalite leader Mr.Nag Bhushan Patnaik.
  9. That there is a general harassment of human Rights activists in India and particularly in Punjab.
  10. That our active members Mr. Gurcharan Singh Ghuman and Mr. Gurdey Singh Binepal were talsley implicated in a criminal case because of their professional and human rights activities. Gurcharan Singh Ghuman was a member of an investigation team alongwith me which probed the Dehra Baba Nanak (District Gurdaspur, Punjab) killings of 10 Sikh youths by the Border Security Force. Mr. Binepal was also one of the members of the Sub-committee that probed the Anandpur Sahib (District Roper, Punjab) Hola Mohalla festival tiring by the security forces where more than a dozen Sikhs were killed.
  11. That I was falsely involved in two criminal cases by the Ludhiana Police.
  12. That a Punjab Human Rights Organization team including me visited Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts. The team found rampant corruption, sadistic tortures and general harassment of the Sikhs and located half a dozen torture centres.
  13. That I was harassed humiliated and tortured because I was one of the authors of the report on Dehra Baba Nanak killings.
  14. That very recent we had received a request letter from Asia Research Department, Amnesty International to enquire into the death of one Sarbjit Singh Sohal. I and Mr. Bhupinder Singh, Advocate were deputed to do the job.
  15. That Malvinder Singh Mali, Organizing Secretary, Punjab Revolutionary Front and coordinator of P.H.R.O. representing his organization, is being hotly chased by the Punjab Police and the Police party accompanied by the security forces raided his house at village Sakraudi district Sangrur, Punjab a few days back and arrested four of his family members including his sister’s husband. They are being humiliated and harassed by the police. The police threatened that they would not be released till they got Mali surrendered. Mali went underground. He is the top most whole time civil liberties activist. He is mainly responsible for collecting information and evidence regarding fake police encounters staged in Fridkot and Amritsar districts involving killings of more than a hundred Sikh men, on the basis of which the P.H.R,O. had released its interim report. Mr. Mali also runs a monthly magazine ‘Jantak Paigam’, the September issue of which has been banned by the Punjab Government where he published these reports. Mr. Mali is at large seeking instructions from his organization and legal assistance from the Punjab Sikh Lawyers Council.
  16. That I filed a Writ Petition seeking directions of Punjab & Haryana High Court to register a criminal case for murder against the B.S.F. personnel on the basis of our enquiry report on Dehra Baba Nanak killings. Mainly because of these reasons and my human rights activities I was booked in two criminal cases.
  17. That earlier I was living at 86, Sector 18-A, Chandigarh. The Chandigarh Police and Intelligence Agencies kept a constant watch on my residence. On July9, 1987, the Chandigarh Police raided my house at Chandigarh at 10 p.m. in my absence. Next day, Raikot (District Ludhiana, Punjab) police raided my close friend Ex-Sarpanch Ganga Singh’s residence at village Acharwal and picked him up. The raiding police party comprised of more than 50 armed personnel including Central reserve Police force. They kept Ex-Sarpanch in illegal custody at Raikot Police Station upto 12.7.1987. He was released on his and his villager’s assurances that they will produce me before the police at the earliest.
  18. That a Ludhiana police party also raided D.S.Gill’s residence on July 11, 1987 to apprehend me. On 14.7.87, Gill alongwith other activists produced me before Mr. Harbans Singh, Inspector Sarabha Nagar Police Station Ludhiana, on the assurance that there were no case against me and 1 will be released after some questioning. I was not released. Gill informed the chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding my illegal detention through a telegram. I was kept in detention upto July 21, 1987, when I was booked in a criminal case alleging that I made an objectionable speech in Gurdwara of village Sunet District Ludhiana on July 20, 1987 whilst I was in the police custody.
  19. That I was produced before magistrate on 22.7.87 who remanded me in Judicial Lock-up, and sent to Ludhiana Central Jail. I was granted bail and was out of jail on July 27, 1987.
  20. That on August 5, 1987 while I was standing outside the court room o the Judicial Magistrate, O.P.Goel, to attend the hearing of the above mentioned case. I was picked up by the Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana Police and handed over to Jagraon District Ludhiana Police where I was booked tor criminal case and remanded in police custody for further investigation upto August 12, 1987. I was sent to Judicial lock-up at Nabha Jail (top security jail where all the alleged hardcore terrorists are detained) on September 13, 1987 and I remained there upto 25.9.87 when I was bailed out. On 25 September when I was coming out of the jail I was picked up from the jail gate by the Nabha (District Patiala) Police and kept in illegal police custody upto September 28, 1987 at Nabha Police Station. 1 was finally shifted to Ludhiana Sadar Police Station on September 28 and kept there upto October 11, 1987.
  21. That I was humiliated harassed and tortured while I was in police custody. I have narrated the harassment at the hands of the police in a statement on oath before the Judicial Magistrate, Sh. J.S.Mander, ina criminal complaint against Mr.Bhajan Lal, a Government of India Minister.
  22. That my statement before the magistrate reads as follows:-

“I am actively working for Civil Liberties in Punjab which provoked the Punjab Police particularly the Ludhiana police that is why the Ludhiana police had registered two false cases under Anti-Terrorist Act and sent me to jail. 1 was granted bail in both cases. When I was released from Nabha Jail on 25.9.87, 1 was arrested by the Nabha Kutwali’ police and was kept there for 5 days.

After that I was sent to Sadar Police Station, Ludhiana, where I was kept upto 11.10.67. During this illegal detention I was humiliated, tortured and beaten. I was not given any meal for a week. On 5.10.87, Superintendent Police (Detective) Surjit Singh visited that police station and I protested before him against my illegal detention and appealed to be released. He said that I will only be released in case I stop my civil liberties activities. I replied that I am not connected with any illegal or banned organization. The right to speak and have dissenting political views is granted by the Indian Constitution. I am only working for the defence of human rights. On hearing this the S.P.(D) said, “What Constitution you are talking about?” Have you not read the newspaper ‘The Tribune’ dated 24.8.87, wherein Bhajan Lal, Central Minister has specifically instructed us that whoever (Sikh) raises his head, criticizes the police and speaks against the Government need not be produced in any court and should be shot dead. You will also meet the same fate. If you want to save yourself go to your farm in Madhya Pardesh. Even if I do not kill you someone else will kill you.

I am of the opinion that after the statement of Bhajan Lal the repression by the state has been intensified. There has been an increase in the killings of Sikh youngmen and hundreds of Sikh youths have been killed in fake police encounters which have been enquired in to by our committee”.

  1. That, besides me, several other Human Rights leaders and advocates, who are providing legal aid to the so called Terrorists (Amrit Dhari Sikhs) have been similarly humiliated, arrested and detained in jail for their professional duties and activities
  2. That in in face of this repression even on the professionals by the State, the alleged killers of General A.S.Vaidya, the Chief of the Army Staff and Lalit Maken, Member Parliament belonging to the ruling party, are not safe in the hands of law enforcing agencies of India in case they are extradited to India. There is no rule of law, the dreaded and most oppressive laws have been enacted and specifically made applicable to Sikhs or those who sympathize with the Sikh struggle for survival in India

Ludhiana:

January 12 1988.