Rapists in militants’ garb
Apart from these State-sponsored vigilante groups there are other individual gangs which are actively indulging in violent actions including molestation and rape of young Sikh girls and women in the villages in the garb of militants. A Media report from Amritsar by Romesh Vinayak revealed such a gang. According to the report, members of this gang had made a number of women victims of their lust. Three of them were arrested by the Majitha police on February 24 while two others were identified. The gang members used to move around Majitha town and made secluded farm houses their targets. Among the victims were a school girl and certain married women. Certain militant organisations had also announced rewards on the heads of the gang members. The gang members used to take away girls from their houses at gunpoint and drop the name of a top militant leader of the area to terrorist the family. After outraging their modesty they would send them back. They usually claimed themselves to be members of a militant group. In certain cases, where the parents protested, the gang members threatened to wipe out the family. Not a single such case was taken notice of either by the Police or the panchayat despite the fact that the gang had been operating for several months.
A minor girl raped
The cases came to light when a 15-year-old girl was raped at a farm house in the presence of her elder sister who raised the alarm. Villagers chased the gang members and reported “the matter to the police. The arrested members during their interrogation confessed to have raped at least six women in Majitha, Idgah and Rori villages. They also confessed that they were misusing the names of militants for their nefarious activities. Apart from indulging in rape, the gang members also forcibly took away 13 vehicles, including a car, which were recovered from them. An imported pistol was also seized.
The policemen as kidnappers and extortionists
The matter does not end there. Even the police personnel, again in garb of militants, are involved in criminal activities. A report from Amritsar says that seven persons in police uniforms came to the house of Dharam Singh in an industrial colony on the Batala road on April 24 and forcibly took him away in a truck. Members of his family immediately informed the Vijay Nagar Police post suspecting that the kidnappers were militants as Dharam Singh had been getting threatening letters. A joint patrol party of the state police and CRPF intercepted the truck. They found the kidnappers to be personnel of Sadar Police Station. Seven kidnappers including an ASI who headed the Sadar Police Station were taken to the Vijay Nagar Police post, from where two of them “escaped”, according to the residents. Other five police personnel including the ASI were suspended by Amritsar Police Chief, Sanjiv Gupta. An eye witness account revealed that the policemen posed as militants and took away Dharam Singh to extort money.
The families wiped out
The PHRO investigated and produced a series of reports suggesting false encounter killings in hundreds. A new phenomenon in evidence during the intervening period has been elimination of whole families including women and children. These killings have not only been disowned but also denounced by known militant groups including Panthic committees. Nevertheless, the media and the public opinion as a whole have been led to believe that the militants groups in Punjab were the culprits. But the PHRO investigations do not bear out this charge fully. The militants groups do engage themselves in political assassinations of government security forces and police officials, members of rival factions and known police informers. But they invariably claim responsibility for the killings.
Much has been written by the PHRO about the counter militant death squads sponsored by the State and other vigilante groups. The case in hand investigated by the PHRO team comprising Gurbhajan Singh Gill, Mukesh Inder Singh Dhillon and Naib Singh pertains to the killing of two young Sikhs of Tibba village in Sangrur district by the police and its “Cats” on April 8. The team met several villagers including parents of the victims and recorded their statements.
According to the investigation report, both Kuldip Singh alias Deepa (23) and Karnail Singh alias Happy (20) of Tibba village were picked up on the night of April 8 at about 11.30 p.m. by constable Gurcharan Singh of Sherpur police station, police “Cat” Devinder Singh Rasheed and a gang of six armed men posing themselves as militants. The young men were killed the same night at a nearby drain outside the village.
Posing militants, Police kill Sikhs and Hindus
Quoting an eye witness account, the report adds that the Sherpur police first picked up Kuldip Singh from his house in the presence of his father and then they went to Karnail Singh’s house. He was not there. His father informed them that he did not turn up that night. He might be at his shop in Ganda Singh wala, a nearby village. They rushed to that village and picked up Karnail Singh from there. The eye witnesses revealed that a red Hero Honda motorcycle (PIT— 4782) was used in picking up both the Sikh “boys”. According to the PHRO information, the motorcycle was forcibly taken from Jailor village where the gang left the earlier stolen Chetak Scooter (PB-II-784). The same gang had forcibly taken Dr Gokal Khan’s jeep from the Gangasinghwala village and killed Rekha Rani, a Hindu lady, in Kheri village.
The villagers raised their voice against these killings and organized themselves to put pressure on the district police chief. The gang members were arrested in the presence of the public and later set free. It was 4 no more than an eyewash since the culprits were roaming around freely and threatening Lakhbir Singh alias Jassi, the brother of Kuldip Singh and the other eye-witnesses,
“What, hand-cuffs for me?”
When constable Gurcharan Singh was being hand-cuffed along with others by the Police officials in the Presence of Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), SSP and DSP, Sukhdev Singh China under pressure of over 15000 persons gathered there, he protested saying that ‘first |am asked to murder certain targets and now | am being hand-cuffed by the same officers. It is injustice’.
During the investigation some very interesting facts came to the notice of the team:
- When Kuldip Singh was being over-powered by Constable Gurcharan Singh and Devinder Singh, Kuldip Singh had bitten them with his teeth. Gurcharan Singh when confronted by the villagers was asked to put off his uniform and teeth marks were found on his body.
- Early in the morning of 9th April, Devinder Singh along with a_ plain clothed constable visited the house of Karnail Singh Happy and had warned him that he would be killed by the night. That was the reason why Karnail Singh preferred to sleep at his shop at Ganda Singh wala and not at his residence in village Tibba.
- When the police party had gone to the house of Sukhdev Singh in search of Karnail Singh, Sukhdev Singh had told his wife that the party was from Sherpur Police Station. He was beaten by the police men with rifle butts telling Sukhdev Singh that they were “militants”, not policemen.
- Devinder Singh was issued a revolver by the SSP Sangrur but during the last Chhapar Mela, he lost it. When it could not be traced, the SSP issued another revolver to Devinder Singh and no action was taken against him because he had been committing crimes at the instance of the Police.
PHRO on April 19, while making its report public and giving a lie to the police version as reported in a section of the press, regretted that the media carried the police story without verifying the facts. PHRO also called upon the print media to make spot investigations as the police often commits such crimes in the guise of militants.
The police high ups involved in the killings
The fact that the culprits in this case were first ‘‘arrested” under pressure from the public and subsequently released clandestinely shows that high ups in the police are involved in these killings and they are directly encouraging the ‘Cats’ to commit such crimes to put the blame on the Sikh youths. The PHRO recommended that the entire matter should be throughly investigated and persons responsible for extrajudicial killings and their mentors should be proceeded against howsoever high positions they may occupy.
Apart from State-sponsored secret death squads, “Cats” and police in uniform indulging in unlawful activities, individual gangs also operate to extort money from the people. A report from Patiala says that police after a chase arrested (May 11) Madan Gopal and Vinod Kumar, (sons of Pandit Banwari Lal, resident of Naleen Kalan) from near village Panjola. They were responsible for writing threatening letters to their targets. The Patiala police chief, Satish Kumar Sharma, publicly confirmed that a car bearing a false registration number, in which they were fleeing, had been recovered from them.
A married woman raped in police station
PHRO received a complaint from Patiala to the effect that Paramjit Kaur (wife of Gur sewak Singh, a resident of Ladhpur), had been criminally assaulted by three officials of Amloh police station. In a representation to the SSP Patiala, on March 19 she stated that she and her husband were picked up by Amloh police on February 11 last apprehending his husband’s involvement in some criminal case. While her husband was kept in the lock-up, two constables took her to the office of the SHO where they allegedly raped her. She has claimed that she brought the incident to the notice of the Judicial Magistrate in whose court she was produced at Fatehgarh Sahib on February 16.
The suspensions, arrests and registration of criminal cases against the vigilante groups, police “Cats” and security forces personnel notwithstanding, they are rarely punished. Nor the administration is interested in doing so. There do exist legal safeguards for the victims on paper but these are never applied in practice. Parents or next of kin of the victims have been moving from pillar to post to know the whereabouts of their wards but generally to no avail.
The murder of two innocent name-sakes
There is a typical case of this nature. According to a complaint made to the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, two name-sakes (One Harpal Singh belonging to Gaggarwal and another to Warring Mohanpur villages in Tarn Taran area) were picked up from the house of a bank manager in Mohni Park locality near Khalsa College, Amritsar in the afternoon of October 3 last year. The two youths, according to their parents, had gone to the city on October 3 to attend to domestic chores and they were not wanted by the police in any case. Harpal Singh of Warring Mohanpur was employed in a private firm at Tarn Taran. Both were married and had one child each. The next day (October 4), there was a report published in a newspaper about two unidentified youths having been killed in an encounter with the police in the Sultanwind locality during the intervening night.
Sensing foul play, the parents approached an Akali leader, Harbhajan Singh Sandhu, who enquired from the local police. The police at first denied having taken any Harpal Singh in custody. But later, a senior officer confirmed that the two were “let off” after a few hours of detention.
Enquiries with the police about the identity of the youths killed in the city on the night of October 3 did not yield anything. Mounting public pressure made the police show the photographs of the “killed, unidentified militants’, whose bodies were cremated without being declared unclaimed for at least 24 hours. The parents recognized the photographs as those of their missing wards. The police, however, insisted that the youths were not named Harpal Singh and refused to show the clothes of the deceased to their parents,
The matter was taken up with the Deputy Commissioner by several local leaders, but nothing came out. It was on the intervention of the then State Chief Secretary, S.L. Kapoor that a magisterial inquiry was ordered into the episode.
The enquiry conducted by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, L.D. Hans, has clearly established that the youths were rounded up by the police without the registration of any case against them.
Top police officials boycott the enquiry
Magistrate Hans submitted his report to the Deputy Commissioner, Sarbjit Singh in April and he reportedly accepted the findings.
During the conduct of the probe, lasting nearly five months, the magistrate cross-examined more than two dozen independent witnesses and junior police personnel. He also collected circumstantial evidence from various sources before reaching the conclusion.
However, surprisingly enough, none of the police officials including SSP, Sanjiv Gupta, connected with the disappearance of the youths, turned up before the inquiry officer despite repeated summons.
The report noted that the police had failed to establish that the youth were let off. It also did not pinpoint the responsibility of any official.
Several eyewitnesses, who deposed before the magistrate confirmed that the said youths were apprehended in full public view and severely beaten up before being bundled into the police vehicles.
The enquiry report also noted that the police did not record the rounding up of the two youths nor was any weapon recovered from them. The police could not relate the place and time of their “release” and did not even mention at whose guarantee they were let off Sanjiv Gupta Maintained that he had not so far received a copy of the report. He, however, insisted that the said youths were let off by the police. The police, he told the media, did not maintain the record reach and every person apprehended for questioning.
Instead of further investigating the matter as suggested by the magistrate, the administration is learnt to have closed the matter. The Deputy Commissioner has written to the in the Punjab and Haryana High Court to get justice.
God get from the High Court authorities failed to prosecute any police offenders. Moreover, the recent amendment to the Cr.P.C. insulating the Police and security forces personnel against any probable legal action is a Pointer to the shape of things to come.
The clean-chit for Brigadier Sinha
By the Punjab Government spokesman, reported in a section of the press on April 13, giving a clean chit to a Brigadier (R.P. Sinha of the Indian Army) who abused and insulted panches and sarpanches of the Amritsar district at village Sarangra on March 8 and who had made derogatory remarks about their womenfolk, is a clear signal that “The King can do no wrong”. The PHRO investigations showed that the A statement 1o breed a new race if there was any militant activity in their villages. The Brigadier’s activities reveal the worth of the Prime Minister’s claim that the army was deployed in the State According to information collected from different channels by the PHRO, six villagers of Nathu Chak tiding an ox-driven cart were on their way to Petrol pump to fetch diesel in the early hours of February 26. As they neared Nathu ke Burj village they were asked by an ambush party of the Army to Stop. They did not heed the order. The army men opened fire without warning, killing four of them on the spot and injuring the other two. The two succumbed to their injuries before being shifted to hospital. The incident took Place around 4.15 am. By 6 am. a large number of villagers from the surrounding areas gathered and sat on dharna around the dead bodies. “Routine exercises” or active duty
The slain persons were identified as Balbir Singh, Pargat Singh, Mehar Singh, Swaran Singh, Charan Singh and his 15-year-old son Bobby. The people became tense around morning when the Strength of the villagers swelled into thousands and they threatened that they would not allow the Police to lift the bodies. They were insisting on a judicial enquiry into the incident to bring the guilty to book.
The demonstrators relented after the Deputy Commissioner assured that a case would be registered at the police Station.
Significantly, the Army men were on contrary to the government’s assertion that the troops were only deployed along the border to check infiltration. The arrogance of the troops can be estimated from the fact that they shot dead even the ox pulling the cart after the incident.
Over 5000 in Jalandhar district on April 8 ended their 24 hour gherao of Banga police station following registration of a murder case against the policemen who had shot dead one Piara Singh, a taxi driver, near Moranwali village on the night of April 6, According to the PHRO information, Piara Singh’s car was stopped by the police party comprising ASI Santokh Singh, head constable Chaman Lal, constable Manjit Lal out of the vehicle and shot dead. The police version the Police was conducting a search of the vehicle when another Car coming from the opposite direction opened fire leading the killing of Piara Singh and the occupants of that car is totally false and fabricated to cover up their guilty The victim was shot in the temple from a close range.
How two youths were eliminated?
In yet another case, the Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Darbara Singh “Guru”, had to order a magisterial enquiry in the killing of two youths, Major Singh (30) and Paramjit Singh (27) by Raman Police on April 28 near Tarkhanwal village. The enquiry order was the result of a demonstration and dharna held by a large number of Sikh Students Federation and Akah Dal workers in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
PHRO investigations show that a police party of Raman Police station led by ASI Manohar Lal picked up the two youths on April 28 at 7.30 a.m. in full view of the public when they were going from Mahi Nangal village to Bathinda on a scooter. They were killed on the same night ina stage Managed encounter near Takhanwala village. Their bodies were not handed over to their relatives. The victims had been seen in Raman police station by their relatives immediately after their abduction by the police at 8.30 p.m. The District Magistrate deputed the SDM, Talwandi Saboo, as enquiry officer to enquire into the matter.
Major Singh (son Dasaundha Singh) belonged tc Bathinda city and his brother Harpal Singh is president o’ Gurdwara Singh Sabha. Paramjit Singh (son of late Chand Singh) was resident of Mahinagal village near Bathinda. Both the youths were not in any way connected with the Sikh struggle nor were they wanted by the police in any case.
There was a story reported in a section of media on April 10 that one Darshan Singh was killed in an encounter by the Rampura police in Bathinda district. According to information available with the PHRO, the youth was shot at by the police. He fell down. The police took him to Rampura Civil Hospital for post mortem. The doctors found him alive and started treating him. The police was “astonished”. They got him discharged from the hospital and shot him dead by stage managing an encounter again.
The death and destruction of the people of Punjab, especially the Sikhs, at the hands of the security forces is rampant. Extortion of money for the release of persons illegally detained by the police and para-military forces is frequent. The PHRO receives complaints of disappearances of Sikhs and their womenfolk daily. It is impossible to investigate all the complaints. A few other non-party organisations and _ individual including journalists, also go into some of the instances. Ne other known international human rights Organisation is permitted to enter Punjab to monitor the human right: situation in the State.
The shocking story of Bhai Padda
The PHRO took up a case of Khalistan Commando Force activist Jaspal Singh Padda (24), who was killed by the Kapurthala Police in an alleged encounter on April 13. The police has been held responsible also for the deaths of his father and grandfather. The whereabouts of his mother still remain unknown. She was picked up by the police in the month of June last year.
The report on the agony of the family of Lakhan Ke Padde village in Kapurthala district has been documented by the PHRO committee comprising D.S. Gill and Mohinder Singh Grewal which was released to the Press on April 25. The committee members met several villagers and relatives of the deceased Jaspal Singh including his younger brother Rajpal Singh (20).
According to the report, AS! Narinder Singh Rana of Dhilwan police earlier picked up Jaspal Singh in May, 1989. He was brutally tortured in the presence of his father Narinder jit Singh (45) in the police station. The ASI threatened the father that his son would be killed by tomorrow and he should see his face for the last time, if he so liked. He could not bear the threat and died of a heart attack the next morning. The death of his father for some time saved Jaspal Singh from being killed by the police. Under pressure from the village panchayat Jaspal Singh was Produced in the court and sent to Kapur thala Jail.
Jaspal Singh Padda was then the president of the Sikh Students Federation (Daljit Singh), Kapurthala Unit. He came Out of jail on bail, Due to frequent raids, searches and harassment by the police he went underground and joined the ranks of Khalistan Commando Force (Panjwar) in May 1990.
Presence of her near relatives and village elders. Jaspal Singh’s grandfather Darbara Singh (66) made frantic efforts to get his daughter-in-law released from the police clutches, but all in vain. The grandfather lost his life on August 14 due to shock and humiliation that his daughter-in-law’ was in Police detention and he could do nothing to secure her release.
Besides his mother, several other relatives of Padda including his paternal uncles, Surinder jit Singh (55), Sohan Singh (36), Gurnam Singh and Satnam Singh (90) and maternal uncle Harbans Singh (of Ambala Jatan village in Hoshiarpur district) and brother Satpal Singh (22) were picked up, harassed and tortured by the police just to seek surrender of the KCF leader Bhai Padda. Satpal Singh, in the meanwhile, left home for Germany to save himself from the police oppression as he was badly tortured during his illegal police detention.
Even as the fate and whereabouts of his mother remained elusive Bhai Padda along with Mandip Singh and Rabinder Singh was killed on April 13 in an alleged police encounter at a nearby village Jairam pur.
PHRO headquarters received a letter in the month of February this year From the late Bifai Padda describing the incident of his mother’s abduction by the Bhola police. The Organisation failed to locate her despite its efforts. The State authorities are adamant against entertaining such complaints. Bhai Padda’s brother Rajpal Singh, the only member of his family now living in the village, has lost all hope to see his mother. She might have been killed by the police by now, said Rajpal Singh to the PHRO team.
It is not only the Punjab Government which does not come to the rescue of the victims but even the Punjab and Haryana High Court has also stopped treating as writs for habeas corpus telegrams received by it from parents and human rights groups seeking whereabouts and production in the court of the persons picked up by the police or the security forces. The Punjab and Haryana Bar Council at Chandigarh has so far failed to take up this issue with the Chief Justice of the High Court.
No relief for the victims
PHRO, despite persistent attempts to establish whereabouts of a number of abducted persons during the month of April, failed to get any relief. A few cases are worth mentioning. The Organisation sent telegrams to the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and Punjab Home Secretary seeking the release or production in the court of Jaswant Singh, an Ex-Indian Air Force employee, and Randhir Singh, an employee of Punjab Roadways, Nangal (both sons of Mahela Singh of Sudhar village in Ludhiana district). They were picked up by Faridkot police on April 1 from their village. The father and village panchayat, in the meantime, contacted the police to know their whereabouts. The police admitted that they had been abducted because their relative, Manohar Singh Dheera, an activist of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) had abducted Faridkot S. P. Kehar SIngh’s son. The panchayat also wrote to Punjab Governor and Deputy Commissioner on April 8 affirming that Jaswant Singh and Randhir Singh had nothing to do with the K.L.F. activist Manohar Singh Dehara. A deputation led by advocate Om Parkash Attire met the Governor (General) Malhotra at Rajkot on April 10 seeking the release of the ‘“‘boys”. The Punjab Roadways Employees Union, Nangal, observed strike for several days. But the victims were subsequently released without as much as an apology. 16 against repression unleashed ‘on members of Panchayats and disappearances of Sikh youths at the hands of the Police. They met the Governor, threatened to resign from the
How the village mayors are treated?
Sarpanch Nahar Singh of Karkalla village explained how he along with former sarpanch and four others were picked up on April 5 by the police and taken to Garhi Interrogation Centre and were tortured for three days. Similarly, punch Piara Singh of Lakhan pur explained his story of harassment. The demonstration was led by Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) General Secretary Balbir Singh Rajewal.
The BKU leader explained yet another case to the Governor that the Panchayat of Nawin Jattan village produced a youth Balkar Singh before the Police on April 6. DSP assured them that the boy would be released after investigation. He was not released nor did the Police disclose his whereabouts.
The Governor gave them patient hearing. The PHRO is yet to know what relief did they get after meeting the head of the State. But there is no letup in operations against the Sikhs in Punjab.
The Sikhs are not allowed even to hold peaceful functions. About 1000 persons, mostly members of the Sikh Students Federation, the Akali Dal and sundry human rights activitis were prevented from attending the Proposed congregation to be organized at Khalsa College, Amritsar, on April 9 by the Sikh Students Federation (Buttar),
All entry points to the college were sealed by deploying a large number of security men. The people who tried to reach the venue were stopped at the gate and denied the entry. Several workers and leaders were detained and later let off. An unspecified number of federation workers in the college were rounded up to prevent the holding of the function.
