Gurmit Kaur widow of the late Harbhajan Singh, resident of Rasulpur, police station Mehal pur has been falsely implicated in several cases and has been undergoing hell for the past two years. Police is harassing her in laws also. She was born and bred in village
Barian Khurd, Police Station Garh Shankar, and has studied till seventh grade. She was married to Harbhajan Singh of Rasulpur 11 years ago. Her father in law Karam Singh (80 years) is blind and deaf. Her mother in law stays ill. She has a daughter Mandeep Kaur (8 years) and a son Amarjeet Singh (3 years).
After the 1984 army attack Harbhan Singh became very disturbed. Daily police raids forced him to become an absconder. Police started harassing his family and his land was made until able.
Police took away Gurmit Kaur’s household belongings including a new motor scooter.
The family was left destitute. Garh Shankar’s DSP would drop by every few days and ask that Harbhajan Singh’s two year old son be given to him. The grandparents managed to whisk away the boy but to suffer abuse at the hands of the police.
Gurmit Kaur had come to Hoshiarpur to do some household shopping when she was arrested by a sub inspector Harcharan Singh of the CIA Moga. Harcharan Singh threw her in a car and took her to Moga. He, without any female police officer accompanying them, took her to various Gurdwaras in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in an attempt to make her identify her husband or his associates. This lasted till Nov 3 (25-2 6 days).
Since Gurmit Kaur did not know anything about these matters, she could identify no one.
During this period the sub inspector tried to rape her on a number of occasions.
According to Gurmit Kaur, Harcharan Singh kept telling her that he would release her if she had a physical relationship with him. As a result of Gurmit Kaur’s refusal to succumb to his lust, the officer and his men subjected her to unspeakable atrocities.
Fearing that if Gurmit Kaur returned home she would disclose the inhuman treatment meted out to her, a case, number 174 was filed on Jan 4, 1987 after she had been formally arrested by SHO Mukand Singh Mena. In his report Mukand Singh has stated that he and a police party were going by village Kokri Kalan when they stopped a tractor which was being driven by Tara Singh, resident of Dhale. In the trolley Gurmit Kaur was found along with two 303 rifles and 20 rounds of ammunition in a sack. Both were arrested.
This is despite the fact that, as stated earlier, Gurmit Kaur had been arrested by Harcharan
Singh on Oct 8, at Hoshiarpur.
Police were apprehensive about Gurmit Kaur getting bail so they implicated her under another case (number 312 date Sept 1 6, 1987 section 307/302/140 IPC 25/27-54- 59 and 3/4 TA). This case is connected with the killing of SHO Mith Singh.
The police Officials were still not satisfied and so they implicated her in yet another case (number 67 dated May2 6, 1987 section 302/307/395/34 IPC 25/27 Arms Act and 3/4 Terrorism Act Police Station Moga City). According to this case a police man Avtar Singh was guarding liquor at Octroi number 3 when he was shot and killed. Another police man Harminder Singh was seriously wounded. The assailants are alleged to have made away with their weapons, belts and turbans.
Balbir Kaur
Police arrested Balbir Kaur of village Wadian, about 30 kilometers from Guru Har Sahai on 12 December 1987. They had arrested her husband Mahil Singh three days earlier. They were looking for her two younger brothers. Even though by this time they had submitted themselves to the police through a local Member of the Legislative Assembly and members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Balbir Kaur was arrested. .
Balbir Kaur was kept in police custody for eight days during which she was subjected to severe police torture. At last the police brought her in a jeep in a wounded state on 20 December and threw her at her home. She was treated regularly for three months but her body had been battered badly by the police beating. She seemed a half dead corpse to all those who looked at her. She couldn’t leave her bed for a day and breathed her last on March 20, 1988. The eight days she spent in police custody became the cause of her death. Her 5 year old daughter is living with her grandmother. The police murdered her 1 6 year old brother on the night of December 15 in a fake encounter.
Manjit Kaur Balewal, Prakash Kaur Balewal and Savinder Kaur Balewal
Manjit Kaur, the widow of Nirwair Singh and his mother Prakash Kaur live in village Balewal in the Gurdaspur District. Nirwair Singh was the Granthi of Gurdwara Sahidan in Amritsar and had been killed by the bullets of Amritsar SSP Azhaar Alam’s “Black Cats” at the steps of the Gurdwara itself. Manjit Kaur was with him at that time. When she ran after the assailants they battered her badly with their rifle butts. On September 24, it was reported that a terrorist had been killed in gang rivalry. Nirwair Singh’s younger brother, Kulwant Singh was absconding. Police had raided their house often in search of him. Prakash Kaur says that she cannot even remember how often the police took her to the police station.
During one raid on May S, 1988, Nirwair Singh’s youngest brother Dilbagh Singh hid behind the house. He was the Granthi of the Gurdwara in Baba Bakala, and was apprehensive that the police would kill him like they killed Nirwair Singh.
Police saw him and shot him dead on the spot. Police didn’t stop at this. After killing Dilbagh Singh they badly beat up the widow of Nirwair Singh, Manjit Kaur. They dragged her by her hair to a wheat field. When she was almost senseless after one and a half hours of torture they dragged her and threw her on the body of her brother in law Dilbagh Singh and taunted “now get your Khalistan”. Her hands and feet were so badly swollen that she was bedridden for many days. Blood oozed from her scalp.
Sarpanch Dharam Singh’s (the village headman’s) house is near Nirwair Singh’s. He and his family are eyewitness of this incident. When they arrived at the scene they were beaten up, threatened by the police and warned against pursuing this matter. Sardar Dharam Singh Sarpanch was beaten so badly that his head started bleeding.
Pritam Singh Balewal is a school teacher and his wife Savinder Kaur, a housewife. The family keeps to themselves but they could still not escape the police brutality. Their house is also on the police raiding list. Their only crime is that Pritam Singh is the uncle of Dilbagh Singh, Nirwair Singh and Kulwant Singh. Savinder Kaur has been arrested thrice by the Mehta Chowk police. She had been illegally detained for three nights once and two nights twice. She says that the police humiliate them so badly during the raids and illegal detentions that now even the slightest innocuous sound frightens them as it seems to herald the police’s arrival.
Amarjit Kaur Sarchur
The Granthi of village Sarchur (police district Batala) Avtar Singh had taken langar (food) for the flood victims on Oct 5, 1988 when the police raided his house while his 85 year old mother Gurmit Kaur and his wife Amarjit Kaur were at home. They ransacked the place, took away all the belongings including two bi-cycles and demolished two walls.
The police arrested Amarjit Kaur and took her to the Sadar police station.
Amarjit Kaur states, “All those who arrested me were males. There was no female police officer present. At the police station I saw that they had also arrested my brother Amarjit Singh. My ancestral village is near Kala-Nor in Gurdaspur district. Police forced my brother to beat me … I was tortured badly for 18 days. They would tie my hands behind my back and roll a heavy wooden roller on my thighs. Some police men stood on the roller while others rolled it making me scream in agony till I fainted. When I came back to my senses they would repeat it. The muscles of my thighs have been ripped. After some days my husband came in an attempt to get me released he was also arrested.”
Avtar Singh states, “They tortured me for 30 days. I was often interrogated at night.
They would time my arms and legs behind my back, put a rod through them and suspend me from a hook on the ceiling. they would then whip me. I was also given electric shocks on my private parts. They also put heavy rollers on my thighs like they did for my wife and they stretched my legs till the flesh between them ripped.”
Rajinder Kaur
Professor Rajinder Pal Singh Gill was the assistant professor of Botany at the Punjab Agriculture University in Ludhiana. He was killed in a fake encounter onJanuary2 6, 1988 by the Ludhiana police. Professor Rajinder Pal Singh Gill’s wife Rajinder Kaur has a double MA. She was taken into custody on Dec 12, 1988 and beaten mercilessly especially on her breasts and head on the orders of Inspector Shiv Kumar of the CIA. He dragged her by her plait, threw her on the floor and behaved in an abominable manner.
Rajinder Kaur fainted twice. They also threatened to kill her husband, a threat they then carried out within a few days. A case under the anti-terrorism act was registered against her by FIR number 118 dated Dec 13, 1988 which alleged that she had sheltered wanted people.
Sukhwinder Kaur Pada Daljit Kaur Pada
The family of Ajit Singh Shah lived in their fields of village Pada, Police Station the OuHargobind pur (Police District Batala). One night some armed young men came and at gun point demanded and received food and shelter for one night. In the morning leaving a man behind they took a sick associate into town. By this time the police found out about it and raided the place apprehending the person who had been left behind. The police questioned him and tortured him for 1 1/2 hours after which they riddled him with bullets. The whole family was taken out of the house, kicked and beaten with rifle butts, staffs and canes.
Ajit Singh Shah’s daughter in law Sukhwinder Kaur recounts, “the police and BSF Started beating us they struck me twice with belts and they kicked, slapped and abused me all the while using abusive and vulgar language. The police accused us of sleeping with them. What are we to do? Don’t we have any self-respect? What is our crime? When they demanded food and shelter at gunpoint how could we refuse? This incident took place in December 1988. Those days were very cold. The police forced the men out of the house and asked them to strip. We were then forced to sit with them. You know, I usually keep my head averted from my father in law. I felt very embarrassed but was helpless. After about 2 1/2 hours the men were allowed to put on their clothes. Then they took my father in law another relative, a guest and myself to the police station. I was detained for 5 days,
“Police came to get Daljit Kaur, daughter of Sardar Shiv Singh. They told her that her aunt wanted her. When the family members refused to send this unmarried girl alone, the police dragged her away. The mother Piar Kaur went along. They both were kept at the police station overnight. There was no woman cop either at the time of arrest or at the station. Police also took away a lot of belongings of this household. Whatever occurred at the house of Ajit Singh Shah occurred in the presence and under the direct orders of the Senior Superintendent of Police Gobind Ram.
Surjit Kaur Sarchar
On January 10th Gobind Ram, accompanied by hundreds of troops of the BSF and police raided Sarchur, a village of about 4,000 people about 18 kilometers from Batala.
The people of Sarchur and neighboring villages Kotlik, Bhangali, Nasirke, Pehrowal etc. were assembled at the focal point of Sarchur. They were abused verbally and accused of shelter extremists and offering their daughters to them. The young men were forced to lie prone on the ground and were beaten with sticks, belts and gun butts until their skins peeled. This was done for one hour. People were screaming but Gobind Ram v. is not satisfied. He ordered people to repeat slogans after him berating a woman of the village.
Surjit Kaur and her two daughters, Manjit (1 6 years) and Rajinder (11 years old). Surjit is an Akali leader of the village and was imprisoned at the time for 5 months.
A retired army officer Charan Singh could not tolerate this and he refused to join in the slogans. He was seized, put in a truck, taken to the police station at Fatehgarh Churian Station for three days. Gobind Ram taunted that when Surjit Kaur would come out of prison he would see to it that she was paraded naked throughout the village. Before returning he threatened the women with dire consequences if they protested against his behavior. Some families then sent their daughters to relatives far away.
Surjit Kaur had been badly beaten up by the police when she was arrested. When she was produced before a court, she was in terrible state. Both her daughters had been taken to the police station as well. Police has taken her husband to the police station at least 10 times and has humiliated him.
Savinder Kaur Butala
Narinder Kaur Butala
On April 20, 1989 a heart rending incident occurred where a widow Sunjit Kaur and her two young unmarried daughters Savinder Kaur and Narinder Kaur were shamelessly beaten by the police at the Beas police station. This inhuman torture was supervised by the SHO of Beas police station. There is no grown male in her house since her husband Sohan Singh died of cancer about three months before the incident and had left her with four marriageable daughters and two children of ages9 years and 6 years. The family has only 4 acres of land with which it is difficult to make ends meet. After their death, the two daughters tilled the land.
Punjab police and the CRPF surrounded their house on August 20. On seeing the uniformed personnel, the mother and the three daughters who were present, rushed inside the house but were dragged out by the policemen. They did not do anything to the eldest daughter Paramjit Kaur because they feared that she might not live through it. She had been bedridden since she donated blood in a vain attempt to save her dying father. They started beating the mother and the other two daughters asking them for information about terrorists who they alleged came to the house. They had to leave the mother eventually because being dumb she was unable to scream in pain let alone answer their questions.
The policemen kept beating the two young daughters with wooden staffs who kept screaming and thrashing in agony. When they could not get the girls to say what they wanted, the police started using the heavy wooden rollers which they rolled on their thighs while some hefty men stood on it as a result of which the girls fainted. When they came to their senses, the policemen brought some salt from the kitchen which they sprinkled in their eyes. This caused the girls intense agony. The pleas of the bedridden sister for mercy were answered with a barrage of filthy abuses. The girls were then suspended upside down from a beam on the roof, till their blood vessels almost burst.
They would tell Narinder that her sister had admitted that terrorists came to their home and vice versa, whereas in fact neither said anything to that effect. The girls said they didn’t know anyone and neither did their family give anyone shelter.
The villagers knew that the police had raided Surjit Kaur’s home but no one went there for fear of being beaten and implicated by the police. The police were not satisfied after two hours of torture, they threw the girls into their van and took them to the Beas police station. The badly battered girls could not eat or drink anything and kept vomiting all night. When the village Sarpanch (headman) Gurdip Singh heard about the incident, he along with council member Achar Singh, along with other prominent people went to the police station and requested that the girls be released. The policemen, however refused to listen to them and humiliated them.
Piar Kaur Gaghrewal, Lakhwinder Kaur & Dalbir Kaur.
What happened with the poor family of Dara Singh, of village Gaghrewal in Amritsar district is no less appalling. According to Lakhwinder Kaur, the daughter of Dara Singh, a police party led by ASI Mahinder Singh of Verowal police station raided and searched their home on May 10, 1989 at 7 am. They demanded that Amarjit Singh, son of Dara Singh be produced immediately. As Amarjit Singh was not home they took Mahinder Kaur, Dara Singh’s wife, and his daughters Lakhwinder Kaur and Dalbir Kaur after first abusing them and slapping them. The girls were beaten up at home and then at Jalalabad and Verowal police stations. During this time there was no police women present.
On May 11 when asked to help in getting the girls released, the village Sarpanch said the police was demanding Rs 5,000 as a bribe. The poor family could not afford to give anything. Meeting the SSP (Headquarters) Taran Tarn the same day, proved futile. When SP (Operations) was requested on May 12 to release the young women, he said he would exchange them for their brother.
According to the young girls they had been arrested twice last year and had been beaten then too. Amarjit Singh was arrested on May 24 and his family, specially his wife Balwinder Kaur and sister in law Chindo were beaten up. Dara Singh has 7 daughters and 5 sons. They make out as living as laborers. Where can this poor family of Gaghrewal expect to get justice? Their letters to the Governor, Deputy Inspector General and the Deputy Commissioner have proved futile.
Jaswant Kaur
The Istri (Women’s) Akali Dal leader Jaswant Kaur of Khanna was beaten up and humiliated by the police of district Ludhiana in the second week of May. Police first raided Kotla Ajmer but she Jaswant Kaur was not there. They took her sister Amarjit Kaur with them after misbehaving with her during interrogation. The next day, Jaswant Kaur, accompanied by district Akali Dal (Mann) leader Swaran Singh, reported at the police station where the police slapped her, pushed her around and abused her.
Gurmit Kaur Laharka
The gang rape and other inhuman atrocities committed by the police of Kathu Nangal police station in Majitha police district, against the 10th grade student Gurmit Kaur on June 22, 1989 is a hair raising matter.
Gurmit Kaur says that the police said that she would have to face serious repercussions if she ever opened her mouth about this, and as a result of her fear she kept quiet for some time. Police have put her father Swaran Singh and her brother Satnam Singh in Amritsar Jail on grounds of “‘sheltering terrorists.” When Gurmit Kaur and her sister Paramjit Kaur came back in the evening after meeting their father in jail on April 21 a police party came from the Kathu Nangal police station and told them that the Deputy Commissioner wanted to see them since he wanted to record their statements. That day they took the elder sister Paramjit Kaur to the police station and kept on questioning her about which terrorists they were sheltering. She said none. She was released the next day but the police took her sister Gurmit Kaur with them.
At the police station Gurmit Kaur was badly tortured. She was beaten up, hung upside down, and then stripped and left in the veranda of police station. So much so that salt and chilies were put into her private part. At night she was taken to a room in the police station, her eyes were tied up with a cloth and she was raped by 4-5 policemen. Gurmit Kaur fell unconscious during this and when she came to her senses, she realized that she was lying stark naked.
She was again hung upside down and beaten the next day after which she again became unconscious. During this torture police men kept on asking her which militants she knew, who came to their home and whether she would help them in capturing them.
Gurmit Kaur answered. ‘“‘when I don’t even know anyone how can i get them captured.”
At last she was released on April 24 without any charges being filed against her. When she was released, Gurmit Kaur was in such a bad condition that she could not even walk.
On seeing her state some villagers got her admitted to the hospital in Dhaliwal and she had to be hospitalized for a number of days in order to recover physically. Who can say when the scars of the psychological trauma suffered by her and her family will heal.
Jasbir Kaur Bathinda
On Jun: 2 6198 6a team of the Bhatinda CIA staff led by police officer Barjinder Singh Grewal raided the Gurdwaras in Satika and Katra and arrested the Grant his Mohan Singh, Ravinder Singh and Jasbir Kaur. Jasbir Kaur is the wife of Mohan Singh and the sister of Ravinder Singh. Jasbir Kaur was taken to the Sadar police station where the CIA staff tortured her so viciously that she miscarried. Seeing her Pitiable condition the police released her with a warning that she should be prepared to face worse consequences if she ever spoke about the police atrocities. After this the CIA personnel took Manmohan Singh and Jasbir Singh to Bhatinda where they were continually tortured till June 29 but when no crime could be pinned on them, they were released after a warning.
Jasbir Kaur did get herself medically examined and even got a report, but in which court could she hope to lodge a case against the police butchers.
On July 1, Manmohan Singh and Ravinder Singh were arrested by DSP Chatapadhaya of the Ludhiana police who demanded a sum of Rs 5,000 to let them go. But from where could the poor Granthi get so much money? They were kept in custody for 14 days after which they were released with a warning that they should run away from the Gurdwaras and present Jasbir Kaur or else …
When the people of village Katra tried to get their Gurdwara Granthi released they were warned by the police of Bhiki that they should toe the line or else the police knew how to make them do so.
Surjit Kaur
Surjit Kaur, a middle aged woman of village Raran wali Khadyali was arrested by the Valtoha police in the beginning of July. They wanted to inquire about the case of the abduction of the son of Sarpanch Verpal of village Mehndipur. Surjit Kaur says that after taking her to the police station, the policemen beat her up badly and twisted her arms and legs in the first phase of interrogation, before even asking any questions.
During the beating she lost her bowel and bladder control and fainted several times.
The policemen would revive her with water and five or six of them would then start kicking her. They would handle her like a sack of sand while she was semi-conscious with the beatings. All this took place in front of her brother in law, Resham Singh’s son, Dr. Sewa Singh. The police had arrested Sewa Singh for the express reason of humiliating Surjit Kaur more by beating her in his presence.
On the first day the beating started from 8 am and lasted till 6 pm. The she was taken to the Bhikhiwind police station for the continuation of the same, which was done in the presence of DSP Patti. She was beaten continually till 11 pm.
She was then shackled and thrown into a dark cell where she lay for a week. During this time the police would throw scalding hot water on her daily. The police kept hitting her on her private parts as a result of which she started getting cramps and was unable to urinate properly.
At last after 5-7 days the police got tired and stopped questioning her about the abduction of the Sarpanches son. They started demanding that she present her son Rasal Singh and a sum of Rs 11,000 to them to release her. It all ended when her friends and son came to the police station. The son was arrested and a sum of Rs 4,2000 was gathered on the spot and give to the police.
After this she had to spend 11,000 Rs on medical treatment for the wounds inflicted by the police. When the police could not hold Rasal Singh guilty of any crime, they released him the same evening. They have come numerous times to get the remaining money.
Surjit Kaur has spent more than 15,000 Rs on medical treatment and to buy her freedom from the police. She states that she did not have any savings and has had to arrange all this by borrowing the money as well as by mortgaging her land. She says that she’s most upset with the Akali leaders of her area who did not raise her voice to help her during this time of dire need. Let alone intervene in her case or offer her financial help, no Akali leader has even been to see her.