When 15 year old Jagtar Singh left for school on the morning of November 29, little did he realize that he was in for horrendous experiences at the hands of the protectors of public life.

A student of class X in Amar Jyoti Public School in Hide Market here, he earned the wrath of CRPF men even though he had not committed any cognizable offence. During 24 hours of illegal detention he was allegedly beaten up, tortured with iron rods and given electric shocks, a treatment given to hardened criminals.

A brilliant student according to his teachers, he returned home shattered and terrified. Even five days after the incident, he is still in a state of shock.

The case of Jagtar is not an isolated one. Another boy, Hardeep Singh, alias Tinkoo, a student of class VII in another school here, was also made to suffer for no fault of his. The 12 year old boy was kept in police lock up illegally for 10 days in November, only to be released at the intervention of the DIG (border). His only defense according to the police, was that his elder brother had absconded.

These two incidents are enough indication that even minors are not being spared by certain overzealous elements in the security forces while dealing with the sensitive issues of terrorism.

In both cases no punitive action has been taken against the erring security men.

Narrating his tale in the presence of his Principal, Mr. O.S. Kanwar, Jagtar Singh told this correspondent today that he along with another student was on the way to school on a bicycle that day when they were caught in a traffic jam on the busy Bhandari Bridge crossing, A CREP jeep tried to push its way through, and the driver constantly blew the horn. As the vehicle could not get through, a CRPF constable in it shouted at and abused the two boys and ordered them to get aside.

“When I protested against the misbehavior of the CRPF man, two of his colleagues got down and forcibly put me in the Jeep after a little altercation,” the boy said. He was taken away in full public view. His dazed friend informed the Principal about the incident.

As Jagtar is a boarder, the worried school staff contacted the CRPF control room and police officials to know of his whereabouts but drew a blank even after day long efforts.

The boy recollected that he was taken to an unknown place after a two hour drive during which “they kept kicking me.” He was huddled into a dark room in which about 15 youths were already lodged. “Later, I was taken to another room where I was beaten up and given electric shocks. Hot iron rods were applied on my arms, legs and stomach, till I fell unconscious,” he said with tears.

Next morning, the CRPF men, he said, took him and another youth ina vehicle up to a bridge and ordered them to run away in opposite directions. “Seconds later I heard gunshots and a loud cry. Terrified, I ran.”

Wading through fields, Jagtar walked barefoot for miles and reached home in Rama Talwandi village, near Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district, at about 10 pm that day. His parents were shocked and would not send him to school, but were later persuaded by teachers to do so.

His body still bears bluish red marks of torture on the arms, legs and stomach. What effect the incident will have on the impressionable mind of the boy can be anybody’s guess, said the principal who does not want to take up the matter with the authorities for fear of reprisal against his student.

While Jagtar was picked up after an altercation with CRPF men, Tinkoo landed himself in police custody merely because the police wanted to pressurize his brother, who had absconded, to surrender.

In fact Tinkoo’s elder brother was released on bail recently. When police parties from Jalandhar and Gurdaspur raided his house last month, he again absconded. The police picked up Tinkoo on November 20. He was kept in the lock up of a local police station without the registration of any case against him. His father an SGPC employee, complained to DIG (Border) G.I.S. Bhullar, who ordered the boy’s release. “I was not allowed to sleep properly during the detention. Now I am dying of shame and do not want to face my classmates”, Tinkoo told his family while narrating his experiences in police custody.

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 29, 1989