Public criticism of the police action resulted in the transfer of Superintendent R. D. Tripathi on J July 23. The transfer prompted protests by the Pilibhit police.23 On August 21, the Supreme Court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to compensate each of the dependents of the ten men Rs. 50,000 ($2,000). During the hearing, the state government continued to claim that because those killed were all “hard- core terrorists” the government’s action was in accordance with law.24
Conclusions and Recommendations
The killings in Pilibhit were not an isolated incident. Such examples of summary executions of civilians and suspected militants have become endemic in Punjab, where countless Sikh men have been killed in staged “encounters.” The security forces in Punjab, under the authority of the central government,25 routinely engage in gross human rights abuses in the name of fighting “terrorism.” The Uttar Pradesh police operate under the authority of the state government, but it is clear that the same tolerance for lawlessness governs police practices in the state.
A judicial inquiry into the incident has been ordered to submit its report by October 31. Unless that inquiry results in action against the police officials responsible for the murders, it will be meaningless. Indeed, the history of such inquiries is not encouraging. In Punjab, no such investigation has resulted in the prosecution of members of the security forces for human rights violations.26 The failure to take such measures has contributed to the tendency of the police force in Punjab to engage in such abuses and has added to escalating violence in the state.
If Uttar Pradesh state is to avoid similar bloodshed, measures to protect human rights must be taken immediately. Asia Watch calls on the state government to ensure that the Pilibhit incident is fully investigated by an impartial commission empowered to summon witnesses and compel testimony from members of the police. Police officers identified as being responsible for the detention or deaths of the detainees should be removed from active duty for the duration of the investigation and prosecution. Witnesses testifying before this body should be protected from intimidation and reprisals. The results of the inquiry should be made public and police officials responsible for the summary executions of the Sikh bus passengers should be prosecuted.
Asia Watch further urges the state government to appoint an independent team of doctors to conduct autopsies on all unnatural deaths of persons in police custody. The state government should immediately issue orders prohibiting the cremation of bodies of persons killed in encounters until such autopsies can be performed, and requiring that the families of those killed be notified promptly and permitted to claim the bodies.
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23 “Blood in the Terai,” Frontline, August 3-16, 1991.
24 SC Directive on Pilibhit Killings: Pay 50,000 Each to Victims’ Kin,” Times of India, August 22, 1991.
25 The security forces in Punjab include the federal paramilitary forces of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security Force, in addition to the Punjab police. Punjab has been governed directly from New Delhi since its state assembly was dissolved in May 1987. Proposed elections for the assembly, and for national parliamentary seats, were scheduled to be held in June 1991 but were postponed.
26The results of the commission of inquiry into the murders of at least eighty Muslims by the police, also under the authority of Superintendent R. D. Tripathi, and members of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), in Meerut in May 1987 were never made public and no member of the police or PAC was prosecuted for the murders,
