A report on eight cases of disclaimed arrests
CASE 1
Gurdeep Singh, a fifty years old automobile mechanic, lived in 34/6, Mohalla Raj Nagar, Basti Baba Khel, Jalandhar. He was abducted by policemen in plain clothes in an unnumbered Maruti van from the road outside the house of Jiwan Singh Umranangal, a politician close to former Chief Minister of Punjab, Sunjit Singh Barnala. On 14 July 1988 around 6 pm Gurdeep Singh was returning home after his day’s work from his workshop on Dana Mandi Road. He and his joint family comprising of his mother Bhag Kaur, 70; his wife Mohinder Kaur, 45; his son Joginder Singh, 26; and his daughter in law Paramjit Kaur, 24, are baptized Sikhs. Gurdeep Singh and his son, Joginder Singh, run a workshop specializing in electrical repairs for heavy vehicles like trucks and tractors.
Gurdeep Singh and his family used to often visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the temple being the most sacred shrine and the seat of Sikh religious authority.
The Punjab police started harassing Gurdeep Singh after Operation Blue star in June 1984. Police teams from Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar started picking him up for interrogation and holding him in illegal Custody in unknown places for periods lasting from one week to three months. His son, Joginder Singh, was also picked up once by officials of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) towards the close of 1985 and was taken to a rest house in Garshankar on Nawan Shahar road, sixty kilometers from Jalandhar. There he was tortured and questioned on his links with supposed terrorists in particular about Sarabjit Singh, his own brother in law who was suspected of belonging to a militant outfit. Joginder Singh was released after fifteen days of illegal custody and interrogation.
To be continued
Article extracted from this publication >> May 25, 1990
