San Francisco: In recent weeks four members of the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) have been granted asylum in the Immigration Court of San Francisco. Harminder Singh Samana Jagbir Singh Gill Bahadur Singh Kang and Harpinder Singh fled political persecution by the authorities in their native Punjab and came to the United States seeking refuge. All have won their requests for political asylum.

On September 20, 1993 Judge Phillip P. Ledbetter granted asylum to Jagbir Singh a member of the AISSF (Manjit) who suffered brutal torture at the hands of the Indian Security Forces.

During repeated arrests the police crushed Mr. Singhs thighs with a heavy roller pulled his legs as far apart as they would stretch suspended him from the ceiling by his feet and beat him with leather straps and wooden rods Mr. Singh was jailed on false charges for three years from 1987 to 1990. After his release the police again raided his home and arrested him. Following a raid on his home in 1992 Mr. Singh went into hiding and fled India.

 On Oct.15, 1993 Judge Bette Kane Stockton granted the case of Harminder Singh Samana a high ranking member of the AISSF. Mr Singh was Propaganda Secretary of the AISSF (Manjit) and later President of the AISSF (Mehta Chawla) for Patial Sangrur Ludhiana and Faridkot Districts. He was arrested on numerous occasions he was brutally tortured   suspended by his feet beaten with wooden rods and had the muscles in his legs crushed with a heavy wooden. Roller -and false charges were brought against him. During his first arrest in 1985 the police threatened to kill him if he did not stop his political activities. In an attempt to force Mr-Singh to turn himself in the police repeatedly arrested his father and brother and also arrested other relatives and friends. The police threatened to kill his father if he did not persuade Mr. Singh to discontinue his political activities

On Oct.22,1993 Judge Lawrence Discostanzo granted asylum to Bahadur Singh Kang a member of the AISSF (Manjit) who was arrested by the Indian security forces on two occasions The torture on the first occasion which included crushing his thighs with a wooden roller straitening his legs apart as wide as they would go lashing him with a leather strap suspending him upside down until he lost consciousness and breaking his collar bone with a rifle batt caused him to require medical treatment for more than a month after his release. He was similarly tortured following his second arrest Mr. Singh fled India in June of 1992. On Oct.25,1993 Judge Bernard J-Horn Bach granted asylum to Harpinder Singh a member of the AISSF since March 1991. Mr. Singh was arrested in August 1991. On the first day of his arrest the police bashed Mr. Singhs head against a wall then beat him unconscious with rifle butts and wooden rods. After he regained Consciousness the police rolled a heavy log on the back of his thighs crushing the muscles of his legs. After some days in jail the police took him to a river and forced him to stand in the ice cold water for several hours. Mr Singh felt feverish and ill from the cold and when they returned to the police station Mr. Singh begged the police for medicine. The police responded by placing chili peppers in his mouth. When Mr Singh shouted policeman stabbed him in the check with a bayonet. He was then brutally beaten until he could not even move his body. When he was released after a month in custody the police required him to check in daily to prove that he had not absconded. When the police tried to force him to become an informant in 1992 Mr. Singh fled India.

Robert Jobe and Jon Melrod attorneys for the winning AISSE members were pleased with the success of Ah asylum applicants in the immigration court. He said that there grants of asylum show that Sikhs who have Suffered persecution at the hands of the security forces in India merit asylum in the United States I feel confident that we will see more victories of this kind in the future.

Article extracted from this publication >> January 14, 1994