The Punjab police started harassing Gurdeep Singh after Operation Blue star in June 1984. Police teams from Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar started picking him up for interrogation and holding him in illegal custody in unknown places for periods lasting from one week to three months, His son, Joginder Singh, was also picked up once by officials of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) towards the close of 1985 and was taken to a rest house in Garshankar on Nawan Shahar road, sixty kilometers from Jalandhar. There he was tortured and questioned on his links with supposed terrorists in particular about Sarabjit Singh, his own brother in law who was suspected of belonging to a militant outfit. Joginder Singh was released after fifteen days of illegal custody and interrogation. In July 1987 Gurdeep Singh was formally arrested by the officials of Police Station Sadar, Jalandhar, on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) No. 297 dated 21 July 87, under sections 212 and 216 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 3/4 of Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, pertaining to offences of harbouring and assisting Criminals with the intention to screen them from legal punishment. In order to prevent his release on bail the police also invoked the National Security Act which empowers them to detain a person without trial for two years.
Sarabjit Singh, Paramjit Kaur’s brother, was later arrested from his village, Johal, District Hoshiarpur, and after nearly four months of illegal detention killed on 2 September 1987 in an encounter faked by the Punjab police on the outskirts of Taran .
In January 1988, Gurdeep Singh was released from jail when he was granted bail in the aforementioned case by the Sessions Court of Jalandhar and his detention under NSA was quashed by the Board of Review. For the next six months Gurdeep Singh devoted himself to his work to look after his family.
On 14 July 1988, Gurdeep Singh was returning to his house on his bicycle after closing his workshop at 6 pm. His son, Joginder Singh, was following him on his scooter. On the way Joginder Singh had stopped to collect a payment from a client. When he reached the road leading to Basti Baba Khel near the house of Jiwan Singh Umranagal, he saw, roughly 100 meters ahead of him, some men in plain clothes and carrying firearms alight from a Maruti van without a number plate and pounce on a person who was peddling by on his bicycle. He saw them force the man into the van and then speed away. In the fading light of the evening Joginder Singh had not been able to see the abducted man very clearly. He did not suspect that the man was his own father. He stopped to talk to the personnel on duty at a CRPF check post nearby who had also witnessed the kidnapping. They told him that if they had a vehicle at their disposal they would have chased the van and would have ascertained who had abducted the man and what for. Joginder Singh went back to his house after talking to them.
When his father did not return till 9:30 p.m. he went back to the CRPF post where the personnel had, in the meanwhile, taken into their possession the bicycle that the kidnapped man had abandoned on the road. Singh Recognised the bicycle as belonging to his father and realized what had happened to him. The next morning, Joginder Singh together with his mother Mohinder Kaur went to the Sadar Police Station, Jalandhar, to inquire about his father. The officers present at the police station denied knowledge of the case. They also refused to register a case of his abduction. Joginder Singh then sent telegrams to the Governor, Punjab Mr. Ribiero, his advisor, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jalandhar, informing them of the abduction of Gurdeep Singh and requesting them to intervene to locate them.
In January 1989 Joginder Singh saw his father sitting in the rear of a CRPF jeep flanked by several armed men. At that time Joginder Singh was standing outside Anand Clinic on the Kapurthala Road, half a kilometer from his house, talking to Jasbir Singh Anand, a registered medical practioner acquainted to him, Its was around nine in the morning. He does not remember the date; the jeep sped past before he could call out for his father. Joginder Singh saw him again two weeks later. This time Gurdeep Singh was inside a mini bus without a number plate. Sitting with him was another Sikh boy.
Mohinder Kaur, Gurdeep Singh’s wife, met Riberio in his office at Chandigarh on 15 February 89 and pleaded with him to find out the whereabouts of her husband. Earlier she had also sent a second petition addressed to the Governor, Punjab. An acknowledgement from his office No. Gov. Gen GA V 88/2476 Jal dated 24 Nov 88 informed her that the complaint had been forwarded to the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Grievances), Punjab for follow up.
Gurdeep Singh was seen for the third time in October 1989 by his niece, Kulwinder Kaur, who lives in House No. 80 of Bhagat Singh Colony in Jalandhar. She was returning from Gurdwara Baba Buddha in Dakoye village near the Jalandhar cantonment in a three wheeler taxi around 3 pm. She does not remember the date. When the three wheeler taxi stopped to let another passenger down by a road junction, she saw her uncle sitting in a mini bus had just overtaken her taxi. There was another boy with him and several policemen flanking them.
In November 1988 Mrs. Mohinder Kaur received a notice from the court of S.S. Tiwana, additional Judge, Designated Court, Jalandhar asking Gurdeep Singh to appear before him on 21 September 1989 in connection with a case, FIR No. 297 dated 21 July 87 which was still pending against him. Mohinder Kaur went to the Sadar police station to ask where her husband was and for his production before the court. A clerk at the police station told her that Gurdeep Singh was alive and that she should not worry about the summons from the court as the senior police officials in charge of the case would take care of the matter.
CASE 2
Gurmej Singh, son of Harpal Singh, a priest at the Golden Temple of Amritsar, was a clerk in the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee’s (SGPC) office in Amritsar. He lived with his parents in the house no., 57, Kishan Nagar, Taran Taran Road, Amritsar. On 21 May 1989 Gurmej Singh was taken into custody by Inspector Gurdey Singh of B Division police station from outside the house of Santokh Singh Kala in Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar.
Both Gurmej Singh and Santokh Singh used to be members of the All India Sikh Students Federation during the heady days of Bhindranwale before Operation Blue Star. They used to be close friends. Both of them had been arrested under section 4/5 of the Explosive Act and 324/1481/149 of the Indian Penal Code in a case registered by the police station C Division, Amritsar, under the First Information Report No. 207/83 dated 4 April 83. Gurmej Singh was released on bail by the court of Sessions Judge, Amritsar on 13 December 1983.
Sometime after Operation Blue Star it was rumored that Santokh Singh Kala had become a police agent and was leading an armed vigilante group organized by the Senior Super indent of Police, Amritsar. Gurmej Singh had joined the service of the SGPC after his release from jail. As both of them were old acquaintances they continued to meet. In February 1989, Gurmej Singh’s father, Harpal Singh, went to America. He organized a ceremony of uninterrupted recitation of the Guru Granth Sahib Akhand Path before leaving for America. Santokh Singh Kala had participated in the ceremony.
In March 1989 Gurmej Singh’s younger brother, Kulwant Singh, took note of a quarrel that had developed between Santokh Singh and Gurmej Singh when one night in late March 89 the former came to their house in a drunken state and threatened to get his brother shot if he continued to interrupt his work for the police. On 20 May 1989 some unidentified assailants shot Santokh Singh when he was talking to some persons standing outside his house, fatally injuring him. Gurmej Singh on that day returned home as usual from his days work in the SGPC office around 5 pm. He had already heard that Santokh Singh Kala had been shot. Later in the evening Gurmej Singh went to’ the hospital to visit his injured friend. But Kala had already expired. The next day he went to attend the funeral procession of Kala accompanied by his mother, Tejinder Kaur, around 2:30 p.m. Tejinder Kaur sat in a room together with other women. Wailing the death. When the body was lifted to be laid on the bier for the funeral procession to commence, she came out of the room into the courtyard along with other women and noticed that Inspector Gurdev Singh his name she learnt only later of the B Division police station was talking to her son. They were talking visibly in a friendly spirit. She then noticed Gurdey Singh, his hand around Gurmej’s shoulders, leading him to his jeep. Both of them got into the vehicle and left the scene as the funeral procession started. This was witnessed by, among others, Baldev Singh, a priest in the Golden Temple and Bhupinder Singh, a shopkeeper of Amritsar.
Baldev Singh, son of Satwant Singh, resident of Tola Maddu, Quarter No.7, Amritsar, was walking down the road parallel to Santokh Singh Kala’s house on his way to meet Sucha Singh, a fellow priest who lived near Kala’s house. He observed the crowd near Kala’s house and saw Inspector Gurdev Singh talking to Gurmej Singh and then leading him into his jeep and then driving away with him. Bhupinder Singh, son of Udham Singh, resident of 25/7665 Kot Man Singh, G.T. Road, Amritsar, who own shop of building materials, had also gone to attend the funeral ceremony. He was acquainted with both Kala and Gurmej Singh. He also saw Inspector Gurdey Singh driving away with Gurmej Singh. When Gurmej Singh did not return home till late in the evening, Tejinder Kaur got worried and went to Gyani Pritam Singh, the head priest of the Akal Takht, to request him to find out the whereabouts of her son. Pritam Singh tried to contact the officials on phone, but was unsuccessful.
The next morning she went to police station B Division to inquire from Inspector Gurdev Singh. He was not there. The constables at the police station expressed inability to answer her inquiries. She met the Senior Super indentendent of Police, Sanjiv Gupta, and the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, on the morning of 23 May. They promised to inquire and to let her know when they found out something. The manager of the Golden Temple on the same day sent telegrams to the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar; the Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar and the Governor, Punjab, informing them of Gurmej Singh’s abduction by Inspector Gurdev Singh and requesting them to intervene to save his life.
On 25 May Tejinder Kaur, accompanied by several sympathizers, went again to meet the Senior Superintendent of Police who told them that Gurdey Singh denied having taken Gurmej Singh into his custody. On S June 1989 Tejinder Kaur sent signed petitions to the Deputy Inspector General of Police; border Range, Amritsar, asking for the whereabouts of her son. The same day she asked her younger son, Kulwant Singh to call his father in America and to acquaint him with the developments. Harpal Singh on hearing about the abduction of his son sent telegrams from Union City, California to the governor of Punjab; Director General of Police, Punjab, and the Home Minister of India, with the following message.
“I, Harpal Singh, Ardasiya Golden Temple, Amritsar, shocked to know about my son Gurmej Singh Geja, employee of SGPC picked up by police officer ten days back at Amritsar. Now I am worried about his life and don’t know where he is. I request you please find him.
A letter from the office of the Governor, Punjab No Goc Sect Fu 89/Asr 3224 dated 1 June 89 and addressed to Mrs. Tejinder Kaur, acknowledged the telegraphic complaints and informed her that they were being forwarded to the Director General of Police for inquiry. Harpal Singh returned to Amritsar on 14 June 1989. He met the officials all over again but to no avail. He went to Delhi and met Home Minister Buta Singh who promised to inquire and to let him know the ‘outcome. He went back to Delhi to meet him again but unable to get an appointment.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 1, 1990
