More than 5000 lawyers have been on a strike for about three weeks now to paralyze the work of judicial administration in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. Not only the subdivision and district courts but also the high court for the two states has not been functioning. The lawyers protest movement reached a stage when about 1500 of them violated the prohibitory orders against the assembly of four or more persons at Chandigarh on March 2 and courted arrest. All of them spent many hours in the custody of the police until they were released. This protest movement has only one aim: to seek an impartial enquiry into the killings of an advocate of Ropar, Kulwant Singh, his wife and an 18monthold ‘son in the custody of the Punjab police. The Punjab chief minister has refused to hold a credible enquiry merely on the ground that the advocate had links with “militants.” What about his wife and their 18monthold son? The chief minister has no answer to the question. Privately Beant Singh expresses his helplessness saying that the Punjab police chief does not agree to hold the enquiry. It is worth remembering that the protesting advocates do not belong to any single political party who may have an axe to grind in electoral terms. In fact, they have politically such diverse persuasions as Congress (I), B.J.P., C.P.I. and C_P. (M). For instance, Punjab’s advocate general, Gopal Krishan Chatrath, a staunch Congress (I) leader, is also on strike, they shudder to think of the incident: an advocate is called to the police station to take away & woman Suspect whose case was being taken up by the advocate. The latter takes along with him his wife and their minor son to give company to the woman they thought was about to be released from the custody of the police. Instead, all three members of the family get lost for days until the advocates strike work. The police reveal the whereabouts of the family: the three of them have been killed by “militants” and “militants,” in turn, have been killed by the police. This cock and bull story is disbelieved by the advocates who are knowledgeable enough to know the working of the Punjab police. They merely want truth to be out and the guilty punished.

 The world is often led to believe by Delhi’s propaganda machine that India has a flourishing democracy, has a vibrant press and an impartial judicial system. Claims have been made that a mere postcard is treated by India’s courts as a writ petition and that justice is instantly given and that the state itself ensures proper punishment to the wrongdoers. Here is the case of a triple murder and thousands of advocates suspecting the hand of the top police officers of Punjab. The state’s chief minister pointblank refuses eyen an enquiry, much less punishment to the guilty. The Indian government does not react to the happenings. The official publicity media does not take cognizance of the closure of the courts for about three weeks now. What is worse is that the chief justice and judges of the Punjab and Haryana high court remain mute witness to the drama. They refuse to take notice of the murders and the lawyers’ strike on the issue. The high court does not do as little as to direct the district judge of Ropar to hold an enquiry. No Indian newspaper has taken any editorial notice of the issues at stake.

And the Ropar incident is merely a tip of the vast iceberg of uninvestigated incidents of murder and disappearances. Where are the woman and her minor son whose case was being followed up by Ropar advocate Kulwant Singh, in the first instance? It is precisely these kinds of mass scale murders of militants and their relations and acquaintances the Indian state does not want the world to know. That is why international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International are not being allowed entry into Punjab and Kashmir.

The world public opinion also is being kept in complete darkness about the real state of India’s media and the judiciary. Is that how India’s “impartial” Judiciary intervenes on a complaint received even by a postcard? Nothing exposes India’s canards more than the murders of the family of the Ropar advocate and its aftermath. The world public opinion leaders the U.S. Congressmen and Senators, the media and the universities must have a closer look at India’s democracy and it’s so called impartial ‘institutions in the context of the assassination of advocate Kulwant Singh and his family. Due process of law which is the foundation of all systems of democracy just does not exist in India. Plain killers in the uniform of Indian Security forces are treated as heroes and their victims have no access to any source of relief, even the strike for an indefinite period by several thousand advocates has no effect on the Indian state. We can only helplessly appeal to international human rights organizations to lend public Support to the cause for which thousands of lawyers in Punjab and Haryana have been on strike.

Article extracted from this publication >>  March 5, 1993