Government forces operating in Punjab have systematically: violated international rights law as well as the laws of war governing internal armed conflict. Members of the Punjab Police the federal paramilitary troops of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security Force and to a lesser extent the Indian army have engaged in widespread summary executions of civilians and suspected militants says Asia Watch.

Tonture is practiced to force detainees to sign confessions or to reveal information about alleged militants and as summary punishment for detainees believed to support the separatist cause. Family members are frequently detained and tortured to reveal the whereabouts of relatives sought by the police. Security legislation now in effect in Punjab has suspended prior safeguards against torture including the requirement that all detainees be seen by a judicial authority within 24 hours of arrest. These laws also permit incommunicado detention and the use of confessions obtained under duress; such provisions serve to increase the use of torture (Asia Watch Report Punjab in crisis p.4).

The Asia Watch report on its 88 page read:

Piara Singh (uncle of Charanjit Singh Channi (now a slain Khalistan activist) 68 resident of the village of Rattan in the district of Ludhiana was first arrested in August or September 1986 was detained for a month in Haldwani Uttar Pardesh state. Throughout his detention he was questioned about Channi. Three months later he was again detained for a week. During his interrogation the police pulled his legs apart pressed a heavy steel roller on his thighs and suspended him from the ceiling. Before he was released the SHO of the Sudhar police station Joginder Singh warned him that if he did not produce Channi (& his son) within 15 days he would be subjected to worse treatment. After the 15 days had passed Piara Singh was again detained and subjected to the same forms of abuse.

The Asia Watch group carried this report from the affidavit of Piara Singh which he had submitted to the PHRO head office at Ludhiana. The full text of the affidavit is given below:

I, Piara Singh (son of Bhola Singh) do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under;

  1. That I am a mediocre farmer and own about 20 acres of agricultural land. I have three sons “namely Sukhbir Singh Tarlochan Singh and Gursharan Singh.
  2. That my sister is married to S.Dev Raj Singh Talwandi and herson Charanjit Singh Channi who was sometimes back killed by the police in a staged encounter Was an active member of the All India Sikh Students Federation and had left his home due to the continued police harassment.

Thereafter the police started harassing his relatives including us. My son Gursharan Singh Gama a cashier in the Central Cooperative Bank at Jodhan was made a special target as he was in the same age-group of Charanjit Singh. The police raided our house now and then but Gursharan was away most of the time for fear of police torture Eventually Gursharan Singh left our house in the first quarter of 1986. Since then his whereabouts are not known to us. The police have made several raids on our house.

  1. That in August or September 1986 a police party from Haldwani (Uttar Pardesh) assisted by Ludhiana police picked me up from my residence and after keeping me in Khamano police station for the night took me to Haldwani where I was kept in illegal detention for about a month. The police sought information about Gursharan Singh. As I did not know anything about him they released me after a month from Haidwani.
  2. That three months after my release | was picked up by Joginder Singh SHO Sudhar and was detained for a week illegally. During this period I was subjected to physical torture every morning and evening. Normally I was tortured by using three methods:

(a)While one policeman pressed my back with his knee so that I could not move even an inch backwards two other men pulled my legs apart so as to bring them into a straight line.

(b) A heavy steel roller was rolled on my thighs.

(c) My hands were used behind my back with a rope while the other end of the rope was passed through a loop in the ceiling which was pulled and tied to something ahead so as to suspend me in the air with my head downwards and thereby exerting a tremendous pull on my shoulders.

While allowing to go home Joginder Singh warned me that if I did not produce Gursharan Singh within 15 days I should be prepared to face even the worse torture. 

  1. That I had no knowledge about the whereabouts of Gursharan Singh and that was why I could not tell anything to the police. After some time I was again picked up by Joginder Singh and taken to Sudhar police station. The routine of torture went on as usual but this time my detention being longer the condition of my arms and legs was so damaged that I could walk I was unable to eat with my own hands. After about one month in the hell I was shifted to Jodhan police post where I was kept for more than one month illegally.
  2. That during my detention at Jodhan most of my agricultural implements including a tractor and electric motor were looted away and crops were devastated by the police My milch cattle were also driven away. The police issued a warning to all that no on¢ should cultivate my lands It resulted in my lands being kept uncultivated for more than three years.
  3. That while I was being kept at Jodhan the Sudhar police picked up my relatives even the distant ones. They included my mother-in-law aged over 100 and a 10-yrold Sartaj Singh One day I was inhumanly tortured in front of my mother-in-law. She suffered a 10 days detention. During these days my wife and elder son Sukhbir Singh were also picked up. While my wile was left off after five days my son was freed after two days inhuman physical torture.
  4. That about two years back the then SHO Sudhar Balbir Chand Tiwari raided my house at midnight and picked me up along with my two daughters-in-law and in their presence suspended me upside down After showing them the torture being inflicted on me they were released in the morning on the intervention of many respectable of the area but not before they produced my other son Tarlochan Singh We were then set free the next evening.
  5. That other than those mentioned above I do not remember how many times [ have been picked up by the police but it must be more than 50 times. My two elder sons Sukhbir Singh and Tarlochan Singh have also been picked up and tortured a number of times Such harassment is a continuing process.
  6. That in-between we had to leave our residence to stay in our two roomed ancestral house in the center of the village duc to the fear of the police as our residence is on the outskirts of the village and there was every possibility of our being picked up without anybody else being aware of our fate. We returned to our residence after about two years and that too under the instructions of the police as they expected that Gursharan Singh may visit us if we resided in our house on the outskirts of the village.

Signed/Piara Singh: 8-7-90 Amnesty International in its May 1991 report also took notice of the affidavit of Piara Singh at page 18 under the sub-heading Harassment of relatives of people wanted by the police.

PHRO activist M.S.Grewal also contacted Piara Singhs brother Bachittar Singh the village mayor since 1961. Like Piara Singh he was picked up so many times by the police and kept in illegal detention for days and months. He claimed that he too was subjected to torture on a number of occasions because he was unable to give information about Channi and Gama. Bachittar Singh along with Piara Singh and Sukhbir Singh was framed in a case under TADA for allegedly harboring Gursharan Singh and Charanjit Singh (FIR No 67 dated 10/23/88 Police Station Sudhar Ludhiana) and sent to jail. They were bailed out after some time.

Bachittar Singh has three sons namely Ravinder Singh Kulwant Singh and Satinder Singh. The two elder sons have also been the victim of police repression. They normally slept elsewhere at night to avoid their arrest. Kulwant Singh silently left India for Germany in December 1988 presumably on forged travel documents. He rushed to leave India because the police was desperately after him to arrest Channi who was later killed in fake encounter in June 89. His younger brother Satinder Singh had earlier gone to Canada.

Gursharan Singh Gama along with his wife Ranjit Kaur and two sons is said to have shifted elsewhere. But according to PHRO information Gursharan Singh had joined underground militant movement and he is at the moment an important functionary of the Khalistan Commando Force (Pajwar). Lately Gamas father Piara Singh and Uncle Bachittar Singh were picked up by the police and kept at Jodhan police post for four days in February 1992.

Yet another relation of Charanjit Singh and Gursharan Singh who was subjected to inhuman treatment (while in India) by the police was Sukhdev Singh (son of late Hari Singh of Rakba village in Ludhiana district). He had also left India probably in June 1991 fearing his further maltreatment and liquidation at the hands of the police.

While he was in India Sukhdev Singh suffered a lot of humiliation harassment and torture besides illegal detention indifferent police stations in Ludhiana district for number of days during the period 1987-1991. He was kept detained and tortured at Ludhiana (CIA) Dakha Sudhar Raikot Jagraon and Sidhwan police stations. He was also taken to Mehna Moga and Dharmkot police stations in Faridkot district.

In his statement to the PHRO Sukhdev Singh said that the Ludhiana police charged him for harboring “terrorists” (Charanjit Singh/Gursharan Singh/Gurjant Singh/Darshan Singh Dalla) after keeping him in unacknowledged custody for two months in Dakha police station. During the prolonged detention he was threatened to be eliminated by Govid Ram the then SSP Faridkot.

And that was the reason why he rushed to leave India for America. D.S.Gill Chairman

Article extracted from this publication >> June 5, 1992