Washington, D.C.: On orders from the Indian Home Ministry, Indian airport security officials denies retired High Court Justice Ajit Singh Bains exit from India September 15. The ‘outspoken Sikh champion for human rights and political freedom attempted to board a flight in Delhi ‘bound for the United Kingdom, Bains was detained at the final Security check and humiliated by security guards who discovered his name on an official Home Ministry list forbidding him to Leave India. Justice Bains is Chairman of the Punjab Human Rights Organization.
Like other leaders speaking out for Sikh freedom and human nights, Bains faces continued harassment at the hands of Indian government police. Restrained by what he terms an “undeclared detention,” Bains ‘and visitors to his house have been under constant government surveillance. His telephone has been tapped and his movement restricted.
Recently, the Indian government brought criminal charges against Simranjit Singh Mann, Sikh political leader and vocal advocate for Sikh freedom, after he made a speech in support of the right to self-determination for the Sikh homeland Khalistan. Mr. Mann has faced unrelenting government harassment ranging from the denial of a passport and his freedom of movement to imprisonment and torture, Justice Bains, too, has been jailed on numerous occasions. Despite the experience of Sikh leaders such as Bains and Mann, India denies any violations of human rights, While in the United States in May, Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao adamantly maintained India’s innocence on human rights violations, Independent human rights organizations, however, have exposed a long list of Indian government atrocities and a history of the brutal denial of human freedom.
According to Dead Silence: The Legacy of Abuses in Punjab, published by Human Rights Watch/ Asia, “The deliberate use of torture and execution as counterinsurgency tactics was not merely tolerated but actively encouraged by senior government officials. “
Article extracted from this publication >> September 30, 1994
