Ludhiana: Poverty-stricken Dalits ‘of Singhpura, under Nurpur Bedi lice jurisdiction in Ropar district of Punjab, were the object of severe repression recently. This incident was investigated by were the object of severe repression recently. This Incident was investigated by a Punjab Human Rights Organization team consisting  of   it Singh Gil and Gurbhajan Singh Gill, both class I retired officers of Punjab government with decades of in holding investigations, and Dr. Iqbal Singh Manga ancients at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. They live in hamlets Singhpura is located 1 km away from Nurpur Bedi, It is not far from Chandigarh, capital of Punjab. Half a dozen Dalit families live on a piece of Panchayat land on the out skins of the village. These Dalit families include the families of Amar Chand and Sadh Ram. These families have for stable means of sustenance. Their men folk work as casual laborer’s. Amar Chand has five sons. They are Santokh Singh (34), a sweeper at the Ropar thermal plant, Kewal (30), Mangal Chand (25), Charan Dass (24) and Mohinder Pal (22). Sadh Ram has one son, Pahu Lal

On March 10, 1992 about 10:15 pm the families were asleep inside their hamlets when hordes of policemen took positions around Dalit habitat SHO Hardev Singh ASI Harnnek Singh knocked at and tried to break open the doors of the rooms shouting that they would open fire if the doors were not opened. First of all, Santokh opened the door and came out and he was greeted with rifle butts and fist blows. He shrieked but his mouth was plugged. Meanwhile, his other four brothers mentioned above, came out in the courtyard. Also came their cousin Pahu Lal “The police showered fist blows and rifle-butts upon them. The women folk shrieked pleading for mercy, the policemen evidently in 4 drunken state showered obscenities upon them. They even beat a pregnant woman of the house. All six males were dragged to the vehicles and were sped off to the police station, Nurpur Bedi. “They were severely beaten at the police station. The harrowing tale came to the notice of Suresh Giri, a Press Reporter, who got it published in Ajit of March 27.

In Bondage as well as in bandages

The PHRO team visited the village on March 30. The village mayor Raghbir Singh, headman Hamam Singh and other leading citizens of the village narrated the

Santokh Ram, the eldest victim, had a bandaged foot and was unable to walk because of injuries on his body. He still answered the call of nature urinating on the pad itself because he could not move by himself. The condition of others was slightly better. Santokh had deep wounds on the side of his feet, marks of torture on eyes, buttocks and the genital. Kewal had wounds on the soles of the feet while Mangal Chand has similar wounds on the feet, buttocks and the head. Charan Dass had wounds on his palms as well as his feet. Mohinder Pal showed the team, wounds on his feet, buttocks, back and shins while Poh Lal had wounds on the feet and buttocks.

Santokh narrated his story and the other victims corroborated his Statement. According to him, all the six brothers were stripped naked and made targets of torture the compound of the police station by the ASI Harnek Singh  Constable Kuldip Singh and Home Guard, Purushottam of Lassari village. “SHO Hardev Singh was present all the time. The constable and the home guard are kept in the police station, simply to tenure the people brought here. Santokh showed his identity card issued by the Thermal Plant authorities but the policemen threw it aside. Santokh further said: “We were stripped naked in presence of us all, hung upside down, legs were spread-eagle and heavy rollers were rolled over our thighs and legs. Leather straps were used to beat us.”

BJP behind the torture

When asked as to why they were subjected to torture, the victims and the others present stated that “most probably, the reason behind the torture was that they had voted for the Congress candidate but the BIP candidate, Dr Romesh Dutt came out successful. His brother, Dharam Pal Master kept sitting in the police station and asked the SHO and the ASI to teach us a lesson. ASI Harnek Singh and his companions obliged the Master.” The village mayor Raghbir Singh told the team that the families had nothing to eat. The villagers, who themselves were poor Kisan (peasants), ad supplied them with medicines and some rations. The victims had nothing but their bodies to support them and their families. Due to bestial torture, they would not be able to work for several months. The harvest season is ahead but none of them would be able to move from their beds and the families would starve. The sarpanch, the Lambardar and the villagers were figures of grief and said that these men were absolutely innocent. They criticized the police for torturing the poor men and beating her pregnant woman,

Besides the sarpanch and the headman, Rana Amar Singh, Gulzar Singh, Inderjit Singh and Kamail Singh etc told the PHRO team that the whole village approached the SHO but denied he had taken the victims in his custody. Harman Singh, the Youth Congress (YC) President Ram Kumar Arora and Amrit Lal of the YC met Jagdish Singh Kahlon, the DSP at Anandpur Sahib who told them that the Dalits were wanted in a burglary case at Hayatpur Barrian village committed some months back. The deputation confronted him with the fact that the whole village was sitting in Dhama (sit-in) at the police station and anything could happen if the innocents were not released forthwith, The DSP resented and directed the SHO to let off the Dalits. This was done only when a promise was extracted that the victims would not be examined medically and no complaint would be made to anyone.

Depths of immorality

Interestingly, the police before parting demanded something for “chah pani” -a few rupees as the villagers lifted the incapacitated victims to their hamlets. Such are the depths of morality the Punjab police have fallen today.

The DSP visited the village next morning. He met the victims and, gave them Rs 500 in all and got their signatures on blank papers. This was done presumably to whitewash the juniors offence as defeated Congress (I) candidate, Basant Singh, sought an enquiry against the guilty policemen. Conclusions

The incident reveals once again:

  1. The state of Punjab is under the police raj and no section of the society is immune from its brutal deals;
  2. The so called popular government has neither the will nor the capacity to reign the force;
  3. The Indian state deliberately and consciously encourages the police of Punjab, No remedial action what so ever is taken against any wrong-doing even in cases, such as the one documented above, where the victims were the voters of the Congress (I) itself and who posed no threat to the “unity and integrity of India.” There is no forum of redress for the victims except for approaching the world public opinion.

By: DS. Gill Chairman PHRO

Article extracted from this publication >> May 1, 1992