III) Torture

Torture in Punjab continues to be widespread and its use to force confessions from Sikh detainees has been confirmed by at least two official commissions of inquiry. A one-man commission headed by retired Justice Tiwana was set up by the Punjab government in November 1985 to investigate claims that 92 detainees held in Nabha Jail under the National Security Act had been taken to Ladha Kothi jail Sangrur District and tortured. Justice Tiwana submitted his report in May 1986. He concluded that It appears that the sole purpose of declaring the Interrogation Centre as a Jail at Ladha Kothi was the torture of prisoners by Police Officers who remained posted at that place. Thus torture of the inmates of the Jail has taken place from 31.5.1984 to 31.3.1985.

The Tiwana Commission Report also found that there was a pattern to the practice of torture and the methods used. These included rotating heavy logs over the victims’ thighs until the muscles were severely injured and forcing their legs as wide apart as possible causing intense pain and pelvic injury. Compensation was eventually paid to the 90 victims of torture listed in the report although none of the 21 police named as participating in or supervising the torture

Have been brought to justice According to some reports people continued to be tortured in Ladha Kothi jail during 1990. The second judicial investigation was that conducted in February 1989 by Justice  S. Sodhi in Amritsar jail. He found that many detainees complained that they were tortured by police when kept in illegal detention preceding formal arrest. Official confirmation of police excesses was also provided in February and March 1989 In February 1989 the then Governor of Punjab Siddhartha Shankar Ray met village elders from over 200 villages in the Batala district. The villages had been raided by the police in search of Sikhs suspected of belonging to armed separatists movements and their weapons. Villagers complained that they had been arbitrarily detained and beaten by police who suspected them of harboring terrorists.

For example the villagers from Sachar village said that on January 10,1989 the Punjab police and Border Security Force led by the Senior Superintendent of the Batala Police rounded up the male inhabitants of Sarchur and surrounding villages. They said the men were ordered to lie on their stomachs and then were beaten with leather belts batons and bamboo poles for over an hour.

In habitants of Padde village alleged that the same Senior Superintendent of Police Batala had ordered that month that seven village officials be beaten on their backs and the soles of their feet in public for 20 minutes. About 40 village officials from the area resigned in protest. An inquiry commission one of whose investigators was the district police chief accused of responsibility for the alleged torture exonerated the police of malpractice. However the villagers’ protests continued and the Governor of Punjab visited the area on February 14,1989. According to a report in The Statesman dated February 18: Speakers talked about how their families were being humiliated beaten up and kept in illegal custody for days and sometimes even weeks together Many of them narrated their horrifying experience of being beaten up by the police on charges of harboring terrorists and non-cooperation in getting them arrested. They also told the governor how the police was extorting large sums of money from them.

After hearing the villagers’ complaints the Governor was reported in the Indian Express of April 4 as promising that such excesses would not happen again. He ordered two investigations into the complaints. One was carried out by a police official Mr.Sarabjit Singh Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Border Range who concluded that the complaints were by K.S.Janjuar Commissioner i His report confirmed the a legations  torture and ill-treatment. It was not until September 1989 however that the Senior Super intendant of Police of Batala allegedly responsible for the abuses was transferred to the Punjab Armed Police Jalandhar Although many allegations of his involvement in torture or ill-treatment have been made to Amnesty International’s knowledge no disciplinary action has been taken against him Press reports of torture.

There have also been many reports of torture and ill-treatment in Punjab in the Indian press some of which quote official acknowledgments that torture took place. According to an article in the Sunday Observer 9 April 1989:

Indeed police beatings even torture and rape of villagers in some of the terrorist affected areas are heard so often that there must be at least some truth in them Senior civilian officials that this writer talked to admit that such things happen and that they are helpless to do anything about them.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times September 22,1990 the BSF had arrested more than 160 young men the previous fortnight and tortured them at various interrogation centers. About 15 young men said they were taken away in the second week of September held for three days at the BSF headquarters at Barath and given 1010 50 lashes each day. At least seven young men from Dhariwal said they were given electric shocks had heavy logs rolled over their legs and were hung upside down. Doctors treating them suspected that two Prem Singh and Dilbagh Singh suffered brain hemorrhages The previous week the police and BSF detained Hardev Singh aged 20. When he was released on September 20,1990 he passed blood in his urine and had multiple fractures to his left arm. Dharam Singh Sandhu also kept in custody of the BSF. Was give electric shocks repeatedly. ‘The Indian Express reported on September 9,1990 that the district administration had held an inquiry into allegations that on and around August 30,1990 about 200 residents of five villages near Kathunangal Talwandi Phuman Chachowali patujarpura and Pangli were rounded up beaten by members of the CRPF and that some young men among them were later taken to Thiriawal CRPF station and tortured. The incident apparently reprisal action took place the day after a landmine had exploded damaging a patrol jeep. Journalists who saw the villagers reported that: Many of them could not walk and showed injuries on the limbs. Electric shocks were given to some of them.

A local civil liberties group the Punjab Human Rights Organization (PHRO) investigated the villagers’ allegations. Its report published in October 1990 claims that almost all the 200 detained Sikh youths were tortured and that police from Kathu Nangal police station both incited CRPF personnel to torture the villagers and participated in the torture themselves. The report gave specific details about 18 cases of torture. Karay Singh was beaten and then dragged behind a jeep. Harjinder Singh and Harbhajan Singh had their thighs cut after which powdered red chilies were rubbed into the wounds and electric shocks applied Randir Singh had his fingernails torn out and the flesh on his hands was cut Partap Singh was beaten with leather belts. Two of those tortured Sarbjit Singh and Mukhtiar Singh alias Mukha were according to the PHRO report only 12 and nine year old. Most of the villagers were reportedly released on the i gust 30,1990.

An inquiry conducted by Sub Divisional Magistrate L.D. Hans reportedly denied allegations that mass beating of villagers had taken place but acknowledged that the CRPF had beaten some people.

Article extracted from this publication >> June 28, 1991