To justify the police actions which of course are heartless, cruel and barbarous, taken by police for the maintenance of law and order to bring about tranquility in the state of Punjab, from time to time the Government had been issuing statements giving the number of persons killed in the so called Police encounters. Under the same vary program in May 1989 Government issued a statement stating that during the reign of popular Akali Government 192 police encounters took place wherein 136 youths were killed and that in the time of Governor’s rule 907 police encounters took place wherein 840 youths were killed. General belief was and is that the exact number of persons killed was much more than the figures published by the Government.
EXAMPLE: On 27th August 1987 the former DGP J. Rebeiro released a statement giving the names of persons killed in police encounters showing the dates and places of the encounters that took places over a period of three months i.e from 1.5.87 to 31.7.87 in Amritsar District. The details given were as follows:-
No Persons killed Date and Place
1 Hardyal Singh 5.5.87 Kot Khalsa
2 Tarseem Singh 5.5.87 Kot Khalsa
3 Avtar Singh (Kangra Colony) 22.5.87 Gowindwal
4 Harinder Singh (Rahon) 20.5.87 Gowindwal
5 Rajinder Singh (Bhoma Wada) 20.5.87 ?
6 Bhupinder Singh (Lala Jabhal) 20.5.87 ?
7 Sukhminder Singh Tony ? ?
8 Shamsher Singh Shera ? ?
9 Versa Singh Sur Singh 10.5.87 ?
10 Satnam Singh (Chakwalio) ? ?
11 Mangal Singh Gaizal ? ?
12 Baldev Singh Chola Sahib 5.5.87 ?
13 Ram Singh Ramu 5.6.87 Sultanwind
14 Rana Partap Singh Tarsika 16.6.87 New Sarhali
15 Balwinder Singh Bhakna ? ?
16 Ranjit Singh 16.6.87 ?
17 Bawa Singh Rajibela 7.6.87 ?
18 Unknown 7.6.87 ?
19 Harsharan Singh Rahuwal ? Near Radhen
20 Nirmal Singh ? ?
21 Sukhdev Singh Malunangal ? ?
22 Ranjit Singh Jangian Kalon 7.6.87 Mardi
23 Mathra Singh Chaura Math ? ?
24 Sukhwant Singh Fuji ? ?
25 Avtar Singh 23.7.87 Sultanwind
26 Jassa Singh Sehure 22.7.87 Chankee
27 Hardyal Singh 25.7.87 ?
28 Yashpal Singh Mangal ? ?
29 Swinder Singh Harika 11.7.87 Ram Rauni
Discreet inquiries made revealed that over the same period i.e. from 1.5.87 to 31 7.87 in wing incidents 23 persons were also killed and there is no mention of them in the statement released by the DGP himself.
The incidents are.
- On the night of ISth-I6th May 1987, at JauraPull two Sikh Youths were killed in an alleged police encounter with the Central Reserve Police. FIR No. 106 registered at Sarhali Police Station.
- On the night of 19th-20th May, 1987 at Kuranwala a youth was killed. FIR was registered at Ajnala Police Station.
- According to FIR No. 107 dated 2.5.87 registered at City Police Station Taran Taran a youth was killed at Nurdi.
- According to another FIR registered at City Police Station Taran Taran, at the drainage bridge near Mugal Chack in an alleged Police Encounter led by Police Inspector Sita Ram two youths were killed.
- According to FIR No 119 registered at Chabhal Police Station on 30th May a person was killed in an alleged police encounter.
- On 2nd June, 1987 a person was killed in an alleged police encounter. FIR No.127 registered at Lopokee Police Station refers.
- As per FIR No 64 registered at Harikee Police Station on 2nd June 1987 a youth was killed in an encounter with the Central Reserve Police.
- Another person was killed on 11th June, 1987 according to FIR No.132 registered at Lopokee Police Post.
- As per FIR No.175 registered at Jabhal Police Station, on 13th June, 1987 one Amarjit Singh Sheron was killed allegedly in an encounter with police.
- On 17th June 1987 three persons were killed near Mehta drain allegedly in an encounter. FIR No.116 registered at Mehta Police Station refers.
- In an alleged Police encounter on 23rd June, 1987 near village Herino two persons were killed. FIR No. 83 registered at Khelra Police Station refers.
- Also in an alleged encounter on 24th June 1978 a youth was killed. FIR No. 188 registered at Gurende Police Station refers.
- According to FIR No.188 registered at Lopokee Police Station on 30th June 1987 one youth was killed in alleged encounter with Police.
- As per FIR No. 149 registered at Police Station Jabhal on 1.7.87 near village Lalu Ghuman one person was killed in an encounter.
- According to FIR. 85 of Police Station Harikee on 1.7.87 one Jarnail Singh Jaila was killed also in an encounter with police.
- Yet in another alleged encounter near Lopokee Police Station on 4.7.87 one Joginder Singh s/o Sampuran Singh was killed.
- According to FIR No.98 registered at Baltoha Police Station also in an encounter with police one Sukhwinder Singh was killed on 3.7.87 near Chack Sikunder Jodh Singh.
- As per FIR No.98 registered at Ajnala Police Station on 4.7.87 an unknown person was killed in an alleged police encounter.
In early seventies Nexal Bari movement was in full swing in West Bengal. To suppress this movement one of the methods used by S.S. Ray was to kill the militant youths after somehow or other arresting them. Arrests so made were neither shown in any Police records nor were they shown having been killed in Police encounters etc. At nights the dead bodies used to be thrown hither and thither and in the morning press reports were being issued to the effect:
- Dead bodies of unknown militants were found at such and such place;
- Such and such militants were found killed in their factional fights.
Similar methods were comprehensively adapted jointly by Ray and Rebeiro to eliminate the Sikh militants of Punjab. Former DGP Rebeiro on 27th August, 1987 also released a list of those alleged victims of factional fights among Sikh militants that occurred in Amritsar District over a period of three months i.e. 1.5.87 to 31.7.87 by naming them as follows:-
- Baldev Singh Pindian.
- Harjinder Singh Saheed.
- Avtar Singh Papu.
- Ajit Singh Urmur.
- Iqabal Singh K.C.F.
- Dharam Singh Babbar.
- Gurcharan Singh Tharu.
Systematic search of Police records of District Amritsar over the period from 1.5.87 to 31.7.87 reveal that the then DIG Police J.Rebeiro is silent about the recovery of dead bodies of unknown Sikh youths found on dates and places mentioned below:-
Date Place
1.6.87 Village Sheron
1.6.87 Khadur Sahib.
23.6.87 Talwandi Dasaunda Singh
24.6.87 Bhikiwind.
9.7.87 Khalra.
11.7.87 Basarkee Bhaini.
11.7.87 Attan.
29.7.87 Jahangir.
What conclusions the readers would draw from the above comparison (all based on the Police records) is left to them. Further investigations made into the reported so called Police encounters reveal many inhuman, horrifying acts committed by police. Only authentic incidents are noted below.
POLICE ENCOUNTERS
Manjinder Singh Taj.
Harjinder Singh Mota.
Ajmer Singh Pardhan.
In the city of Amritsar on 16.5.87 Manjinder Singh Taj and Harjinder Singh Mota were picked up by the occupants of a car with tinted glass while they were on the way to Amritsar bus stand. For two days most inhuman treatment was given to them at the interrogation center of Mall Mandi. After the “butcher” interrogators failed to extract the information they wanted, on the night of 18th-I9th May 1987 both were shot dead near villages of Kanuwala and Baga.
Allegedly Manjinder Singh Taj was wanted for the murder of son of DSP. Braham Dutt Sharma.
That was not end of the story. Manjinder Singh had four brothers. When this unfortunate incident occurred the eldest brother Jagdeep Singh was underground, the second brother Paramjit Singh was done to death by Police. Third brother was Manjinder Singh Taj. The fourth was Ajmer Singh Pardhan who was on 17.7.87 arrested in connection with the Bank Robbery at Ludhiana and was on 14.8.87 brought to Amritsar. Reportedly he appealed to the court saying that he was falsely implicated in criminal cases and that he apprehended death at the hands of DSP Braham Dutt Sharma. Court took no notice of his appeal. On the night of 17th-18th August DSP Pradhan Dutt Sharma brought him to the interrogation center from the city Police Station Amritsar. In the meantime Taj brother’s father Lal Singh along with his youngest son Iqbal Singh was implicated in some false criminal cases and was sent to judicial remand. On 19.8.87 Ajmer Singh Pardhan’s mother came to the interrogation center to see her son. Instead of her son she found his clothes lying in the police cell.
She was told by Police that her son was taken out for recovery of arms but the other inmates of Ajmer Singh told her that police had taken Ajmer Singh to kill him. Next day the following news appeared in the press:
“A dreaded terrorist Ajmer Singh escaped from Police custody. At half past two in the night CRP personnel asked a youth to stop instead he dodged the police as a result he was shot dead. Later on he was identified as Ajmer Singh who had earlier escaped from Police custody.
Bhupinder Singh Lala. Sukhminder Singh Toni. Shamsher Singh Shera.
Reportedly on 18.5.87 at about 10 a.m. near village Manana a party of CRP stopped a Jeep bearing No. 3053. Occupants were four youths who leaving the jeep ran hither and thither. Two of them were nabbed at the spot one was shot at who fell on the ground and the fourth was never found. So the party of CRP apprehended the three youths named Bhupinder Singh Lala resident of Jhabal, Sukhwinder Singh Toni resident of Fatehpur and Shamsher Singh Shera resident of Dhuna.
He was Bhupinder Singh Lala who was shot at. Many villagers had assembled there. Bhupinder Singh remained crawling with pain and asked for water. Villagers wanted to give him water but were not allowed by the CRP jawans who on the contrary started hitting all the three captives with butts of their rifles thus the arms and legs of Sukhminder Singh Toni and Shamsher Singh Shera were broken. Reportedly the CRP jawans were asking the captives as to where be their fourth companion who according to them was none other than Pama of Dhaju village.
Badly wounded Bhupinder Singh Lala was dragged and put into the jeep and so were pushed into the same jeep Toni and Shera. Before the CRP jawans set out for their destination Bhupinder Singh Lala breathed his last. Leaving the dead body of Lala by the side of the road CRP party fled away in their jeep and they took with them both Sukhminder and Shera.
Shortly thereafter parents of Bhupinder Singh Lala came from a nearby village and collected the body of their son.
On the night of 20th -21st May 1987 the other detained youths were shot dead near Mughal Chack ( Taran Taran) Jaswant Singh Santu.
Badhni Police arrested one Jaswant Singh Santu resident of village Kill Chahal of District Faridkot from near a brick kiln when was returning from village Kusa Manian on foot. He was given third degree treatment at Mehna and Moga police stations and at last on the night of 20th -2]st May 1987 was shot dead at the canal bridge near village Dhauder. According to police records a scooter was recovered from him and allegedly that very scooter was snatched from an unidentified person by a known criminal of village Behiwal who was duly arrested by police and let go after taking some money but the scooter was retained at the police station. It was the same very scooter that was planted on Jaswant Singh Santu. Avtar Singh Pehalwan. Rana Partap Singh.
Avtar Singh Pehalwan resident of Kangara Colony, Amritsar an active worker of Babbar Khalsa and another person named Rana Partap Singh resident of village Triska were taken out of jail and shot dead. Police concocted a plausible but unbelievable story which goes as under:-
Avtar Singh Pehalwan was arrested at Indaur and booked under National Security Act. On 18.5.87 he was brought to Amritsar by air and lodged in jail. On 21.5.87 he was produced in court and his defense counsel Amarpal Singh Randhawa informed the court that his client Pehalwan apprehended death from the hands of police and that he was brought to Amritsar only for that very purpose. Request was also made to court to order the police to put shackles on his client to restrain his freedom lest the police declared him and escapee and bring everything to an end saying “ killed in encounter”. Court took no notice of the appeal so made.
Police version about the deaths of Avtar and Rana is as follows:-
While police party was taking Avtar and Rana to Jandiala Guru from recovery of some arms, right in the middle of the road they noticed a dead body. Sooner they stopped they were surrounded by six to seven armed terrorists and they freed both the captives and relieved Inspector of Beas Police Station of his service revolver. Immediately two road block posts were alerted on wireless. At two different places both the escapees were killed in encounters and also the service revolver of the Inspector was recovered.
Later on a Police Officer was heard commenting that some more captives would had been killed along with the said two.
Manjit Singh Mini Baba.
Amnik Singh.
On 27th May 1987 Gurdwara of Jigewala was raided by police wherein were staying Manjit Singh Mini Baba resident of Moga and Amrik Singh s/o Gurdev Singh of village Danekee. They both were shot dead by police while they were fleeing from the Gurdwara. They both were unarmed and if wanted police could have arrested them without use of any sort of force. To cover up the killing of unarmed youths police made public that the rifles and uniforms stolen or snatched from the two policemen who were earlier killed at Moga on 26th May, 1987 were recovered from them. Police also claimed that while running the killed youths had thrown the rifles in a pond. Pond was thoroughly searched in the viewing of hundreds of villagers but no rifle was recovered from the pond.
Truth behind this whole matter was that SSP Gobind Ram was on the hunt of two Persons who were in police custody but off the records of the station whom he could kill as a show of power and revenge for the killing of two policemen at Moga on 26.5.87.
Gurdev Singh Satiawala
According to a press report released by police on 13th June 1987 in a police encounter at Changarwan ( Dist Fandkot) Gurdev Singh Satiwala, Nirmal Singh Budh Singh Wala and Gurmail Singh of Moga were killed. Photographs of all those killed in the so called police encounter were published in Jag Vania daily published from Jallandher. All those who were very well acquainted with Nirmal Singh and Gurmail Singh strongly contradicted the police version that those were the 3 dead bodies of Nirmal and Gurmail.
As pera Police tout the above named three Sikh Youths were not killed at one place as claimed by police. According to him two of the said three were arrested on 12th June. 1987 from a truck which was involved in an encounter with CRP. The third was already in police custody who despite the merciless torture by police had not disclosed his identity. Also allegedly Police had recovered a scooter from Gurmail Singh. None had ever before seen Gurmail Singh riding a scooter nor had he any.
From a very reliable source it was learnt that Gurdev Singh Sitiawala was somehow or other killed and the photograph of his dead body was superimposed with two other unknown bodies and released to press. This published press report was shown to two Sikh Youths who were arrested from a truck involved in the so called police encounter with CRP with the sole idea of extracting information of the whereabouts of their other companions by creating fear in their minds. Secondly the said press report would have assured the companions of those arrested that since they were killed none was left in police custody to disclose their whereabouts.
Ranjit Singh Janjian Kalan
On 3.6.87 police nabbed two cyclists named Ranjit Singh Janjian kalan ( Dist. Amritsar) and Jagjit Singh Jag resident of Lala Nangal while they were on their way from Ramono to Majitha. Both were brutally beaten in order to extract information about the whereabouts of some militants. Ranjit Singh remained mute but Jagjit Singh Jag broke out and some disclosures were made by him. Ranjit Singh was shot dead on 6.6.87 near Man Khurud. Jagjit Singh was dressed as a Police officer and persuaded to disclose the hideouts of some of the known underground liberators. In the press conference held in this connection the then SSP. Azhar Alam made public that in a police encounter at Mari an unknown “terrorist” was killed and his companion Jagjit Singh Jag managed to escape. When confronted by press reporters as to how he knew that the companion of unknown terrorist was Jagjit Singh Jag he became speechless. Next day the news of this press conference was published in the daily AJIT under the heading:-
THE FLEEING TERRORIST GAVE HIS NAME TO POLICE
Naib Singh Jandiana
In May 1987 police arrested one Nirmal Singh resident of Budhsinghwala. He was ruthlessly beaten and while narrating his past movements he mentioned that he had spent a night at village Jandiana in the house of Naib Singh. In the meantime Naib Singh was already arrested and was then stationed at Police Station Mehna. There as a result of beating his spinal cord was damaged. The best solution to get rid of Naib Singh was to kill him. So on 15.6.87 he along with another Malkiat Singh ( Not known from where and under what circumstances police brought him) were killed near bridge No.2 of Giderbaha Canal.
Neem Singh
Jagtar Singh
On 16.6.87 two youths were found shot dead behind Faridkot Jail. They were identified as Neem Singh resident of Sad Singhwala and Jagtar Singh s/o Bachhattar Singh resident of village Chirk.
