A frail yet defiant Balkar Singh of Etobicoke arrived home yesterday to the cheers of supporters after what he said was nearly a year of detainment and torture in a Punjabi jail.
“It was just like hell,” he said.
“They hung me from my feet; they put shocks to my mouth, my nose, my rectum, my penis. There is no democracy.”
Singh, 40, was suddenly released Tuesday from an Amritsar district jail. He’d been held with ‘out charge since he was arrested last Nov 2 under India’s strict antiterrorism laws.
In brief comments to reporters at Pearson airport, Balkar Singh, 40, said his sojourn in prison had been “like hell.” He was met by his wife, his three children and several dozen relatives and friends.
During his imprisonment, the Department of External Affairs made numerous representations to the Indian government on his behalf, and consular officials visited him in Amritsar several times.
“I think he’s out because of our representation,” an External Affairs official at the airport said. Also on hand was Balkar Singh’s Member of Parliament, Robert Pennock, who had spoken to External Affairs Minister Joe Clark several times about the matter.
“I give thanks to the Canadian community and especially the External Affairs Department,” Balkar Singh told reporters. “I’d like to kiss the soil. If there is holy soil anywhere in the world it is here.”
Holding the youngest of their children 2 year old daughter Navneet, his wife, Narinder, said only that she was very happy about her husband’s return.
Balkar Singh was on a visit to his sisters last November when he was arrested in Amritsar, two months after another Canadian of Indian descent, Daljit Singh Sekhon of Mississauga, was detained.
Although neither man was ever formally charged with any offence, both were accused by the police of terrorist related activities. During their imprisonment, the Indian press reported that they made “full confessions. A quick scan will search for recently deleted files, while a deep scan will perform a more thorough search for can i recover an unsaved illustrator file cs6 all recoverable files. ”
While he was in jail, Balkar Singh asked the Indian Supreme Court to press charges against six senior police officers who he said had tortured him. Canada lodged a formal protest with the Indian government over the allegations and Amnesty International also interceded on his behalf.
Daljit Singh Sekhon, a 24 year old machinist, is believed to be still in custody. Under India’s antiterrorist laws, suspects normally may be held for up to a year without charge. However, the one year limit can be extended by court order,
In his petition to the Supreme Court, Balkar Singh described six methods of torture to which he said he had been subjected. Among other things he said he was stripped, beaten, jumped upon and given electric shocks by interrogators who demanded to know his role in the violent separatist struggle taking place in Punjab.
He also alleged that he was tied up and hung from the prison-cell ceiling. On another occasion, he said, police officers discussed whether to douse him with kerosene and set him on fire,
He said he was also repeatedly questioned about the Air India crash of June 1985, in which 329 people died when a Toronto-Bombay plane crashed into the sea off the coast of Ireland.
For several years an underground guerrilla movement has been seeking to establish a separate homeland in Punjab which would be renamed Khalistan.
In one of a series of selective leaks to the press, the Indian police said Balkar Singh was “handing-love with militants” and had been exhorting young people to join the separatist cause.
His petition to the Supreme Court of India resulted in an inquiry but the results have not yet been released.
After arriving yesterday on a KLM flight from India via Amsterdam, Balkar Singh was whisked away to the Rexdale townhouse that he shares with his mother, his wife and children.
He immigrated to Canada in 1972, and! since then has never been involved in any political activities, a longtime friend said.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 4, 1988
