How Are Cases Fabricated?
“Falsehood written in ink cannot change the facts written in blood.”
(Lu Chun-Chinese Author)
Thousands of political activists and their associates have been incarcerated in jails under various cases. How the police fabricated these cases is being illustrated below:
Three vans of the Punjab police, CHA 6483, CHK 3324 and one without any license plates, came to village Chani, in district Ropar on May 2, 1989 at 8 am. The plain clothes men in these vans wanted to arrest two young men, Harinder Singh and Balbir Singh. There were no cases registered against them anywhere. They were presented to the police by village council leaders of Chungi Kalan, Chungi Kurd, Badali, and other important people. The plain clothes men said that they were being taken to record their statements. After a long discussion with the villagers, the police took Harinder Singh and Balbir Singh away in the vans. .
They were not released despite police promises to do so. Finally in desperation the parents took the matter up with Governor Ray, DGP Gill, I.G. Police Chandigarh and SSP Ropar but there was no reply. They kept on asking for information on the whereabouts of the youth Their “missing” notices were published in newspapers on May 11.
A Punjabi language paper published from Jalandhar printed a report on page 8 in its May 19 issue, that Ludhiana police had arrested five suspects on the charges of conspiracy to commit robbery at Samrala Chowk. They were named as Harinder Singh and Balbir Singh, both residents of village Chungi Kalan, Dharam Singh, resident of village Sahid in Amritsar district, Baljit Singh of village Khanpur Bahila and Ram Singh of Badala (Ropar). This news item had been released to the press by the police. The villagers and members of the village council were wonder struck that how could those who had been taken by the police in front of their own eyes two months ago, and who could not be produced by the police in court, be caught in the alleged conspiracy on May 197?
Truth is quite contrary to the police claim of having killed three “dangerous militants” of the Babbar Khalsa at village Rupawal in the Majitha district in June 1989.
According to the report filed by the police, “three militants Angrej Singh, Bhupinder Singh Bittu, and Sukhvinder Singh Raju were arrested on the basis of information provided by an important witness. A police party led by SHO Mahinder Singh arrested them on June 21 at 5:45 pm at a drain bridge near Rupawal village, while they were planning a major conspiracy. Police said they had recovered one assault rifle and 50 cartridges from each of them as well as 11 kilograms of explosive material and 25 detonators. According to the police they shouted pro Khalistan slogans at the time of the arrest.
The police version is fabricated and miles from the truth. Police arrested Bhupinder Singh Bittu from his house on June 17 in fact his parents notified the Punjab Governor telegraphically. When the police came to arrest Sukhwinder Singh, alias Raju he was not at home but had gone to Ludhiana for some work. Police took away his elder brother and said that he would be exchanged for Sukhwinder Singh. The next day Raju presented himself at the police station and they released his brother. When all the influence of the family could not get him released, they finally sent telegrams to Ribeiro, Ray and Gillon the 21st.
According to the police report it is shown to have occurred at 5:45 Pm during the raid.
The FIR about this incident is filed at 9:10 pm but the police party is still at the scene of the incident, because they are required to investigate. The paper work normally takes 4 long time, but the details of the incident are made available to the newspapers in a press note signed by the SSP, so that it could be published in their June 22 issues. It is obvious that the news was released even before the time the incident was said to have taken place.
If the Congress party believes that it can achieve peace in the Punjab by subduing the Sikhs, then it is suffering from a massive hallucination. It is possible that the militant Sikhs might be subdued temporarily and peace would seem to return but it will be elusive. I have seen many revolutions in my lifetime, the Russian revolution of 1917 Indian independence in 1947 and Chinese P. evolution in 1948. I have heard of the atrocities of Mussolini but I believe that the people’s movements always triumph.
Principal Sant Singh Sekhon
The Behavior of Black Cats Government Nurtured Gangs
One of the methods used by S.S. Ray in combating the Naxalite movement in Bengal was to create secret gangs of anti-social criminals who would penetrate the networks of revolutionaries, identify them and their sympathizers and kill them. They were also used to commit acts which would be said to have been done by the activists so that the movement could be discredited.
Ray and Riberio used this tactic in Punjab also. In a way it was easy for them to do so because some groups selfishly and unthinkingly indulged in activities which included killing of innocent people, indiscriminate firing on Hindus, sending ransom notes, and at times even abducting children. As a result of this there was resentment against them in the common populace and it was easy to pin these activities of killer gangs to the militant groups. Ray and Ribeiro made full use of the weaknesses of the militant groups.
Those who were selected by Ray and Riberio for the killer gangs included criminals, some groups of the Nihangs and some infiltrators within the militant movement who were either scared of police tortures or wanted some material benefits. The first such gang was established by the then SSP of Amritsar Azhar Alam, as a result of which people started calling the group Alam Sena (Alam’s Army). Alam had himself named them Panthic Tiger Force and Red Brigade. The first name was kept because he wanted to usurp the power in the Gurdwaras through them, for which the pseudo-religious name was essential. He called them by the latter name to strike an association with the Red Brigade in Europe. The people however started calling them the “Black Cats.”
The importance of the “Black Cats” in the strategy of the Government can be gauged from an interview with Punjab Police Chief KPS Gill in the weekly magazine ‘India Today” dated Sept 15, 1988. In an interview with correspondent V.A. Mudgil, Gill said that there was no question of disbanding the secret units in the Punjab since the security forces could not do anything without them.
The activities of these gangs which include murder, even of those people who have cases filed against them, or other social activities violates the laws of the land which the Government has made and is supposed to uphold. The authorities keep on praising them
and declaring themselves as their guardians so as to legitimize them. They are not only breaking the law in this case but also claim this law is essential. According to Ribeiro, “there is no doubt that we are using individuals like Dalbir Singh. This would not even have been revealed if two of our officers (Sital Dass and Baldev Singh Brar) had not been murdered … Don’t governments use spies to gather information? Is it against the law to do so? We are fighting an undeclared war in Punjab in which all that matters is the elimination of the murders.” This statement of Ribeiro’s implies that the only objective of the Gov matters in a war is the elimination of the enemy.
Initially the government kept the activities of these.
“Black Cats” a well-guarded secret and whenever any news of their activities leaked out the police officers would vehemently deny it. When it became impossible to cover up their activities and deny their existence, police officers like Riberio and Gill started accepting the responsibility for some of their activities and started offering the afore mentioned explanations. The “Black Cats” are under the direct command of the Police Chief and coordinate all their activities with him. In an interview with the Editor of The Illustrated Weekly, Pritish Nandy, Ribeiro said that there was a problem about the night patrols. The militants had been attacking the police patrol parties as a result of which the police had refused to go out on night patrols in a couple of incidents. We were trying to decide what to do when someone not me suggested that we should send our boys out in plainclothes at night. We should let the terrorists whom we have turned around go on patrols to areas where the regular police as well as the local population don’t venture out at night. Thus if there is any group roaming the area it would be a terrorist group and which would be eliminated on the spot by our men.” This way police started the practice of “Black Cats” wearing the distinctive robes of the orthodox Sikhs and AK 4 7 rifles.
The kind of havoc that these Black Cats wrought has been described in a report published in a report in the Punjabi Tribune. The report said, “Black Cats” disguised as terrorists go to a village and demand food from the people which is provided to them.
Some people reported cases of looting, beatings, and abduction of women by the “Black Cats”. As the Nari Manch (Women’s Forum) and the Punjab Human Rights Organization published reports about police atrocities on women the “Black Cats” started harassing the women more so that it would appear that the police as well as militants behaved with similar viciousness towards women. “Black Cats” first demand food at the point of AK 47s and then a few days later, they don police uniforms and raid the people, accusing them of harbouring terrorists and confounding them with detailed information. This often resulted in their being able to extort large sums of money.
The activities of 8 prominent commanders (dead or alive) of the “Black Cats” are briefly stated below:
Santokh Kala was the right hand man of the SSP Amritsar Azhar Alam. On being transferred from Amritsar to Jalandhar, Azar Alam took Kala with him. On being promoted back to Amritsar as the DIG, Azhar Alam could not enjoy the services of Kala since on the very day he joined, Kala was killed by some militant leaders in his house at Sultanpur Vind, in Amritsar.
In an interview with the Editor of The Illustrated Weekly, Pritish Nandy, Ribeiro said that Kala along with his wife was killed in his house and that the police was not taking care of his orphaned children.
Kala was a no-good vagrant who started going to the Darbar Sahib during the time of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale and was associated with the Bhindrawale Tiger Force before becoming a Black Cat. As a result of this he knew the prominent militant leaders especially those who visited the Darbar Sahib. Initially Azhar Alam gave him a car with tinted windows, a Thompson machine gun and a Spanish revolver and put him on duty near the Golden Temple. Kala recruited 20-25 criminals along with him on his directions Azhar Alam gave them the name of Panthic Tiger Force, while it was known to the public as Alam’s Sena.
Panthic Tiger Force was given identification papers of the 25th battalion of the CRPF which bore the purple stamp of the commandment of the 25th battalion.
On Kala’s advice Azhar Alam used the Panthic Tiger Force to grab control of the Gurdwaras. Their first target was Gurdwara Shahidan, where they killed some Grant his and other people. The most prominent among them was Nirwair Singh Balewal, who was killed right inside the Gurdwara as he vehemently, opposed Azhar Alam’s plan to take over the Gurdwaras. They did succeed in taking over the
Gurdwara Sahidan but failed in their attempt to take over the Golden Temple.
Azhar Alam put Kala in the buildings over looking the Golden Temple, from where Kala would challenge, taunt and provoke the militants. But despite this he did not succeed in acquiring the control of the Golden Temple till Operation Black Thunder. He also had to leave the Gurdwara Sahidan because of massive public resentment against the activities of Kala, which were being revealed. Azhar Alam was also transferred from Amritsar Kala and his gang would hover around the Golden Temple and the bus station.
Whenever they spotted a militant they would pounce upon him, capture him and dump him at the Mal Mandi torture center. Thus Azhar Alam was able to kill 40-45 militants including Lt. General Swaran jit Singh of the Bhindranwale Tiger Force. Two American journalists of Washington Times and New Hampshire Sunday News interviewed Kala in Amritsar in March 1988 at the hotel International in Amritsar. Following are the extracts of the interviews:
In its issue dated April 5, The Washington Times said:
“A secret government gang roams around Amritsar to kill those who are demanding Khalistan. The members of this group say that Indian police helps them in murders … and the members of this group have often been seen armed and talking to police officials in police stations. The group is led by a burly man Santokh Singh Kala … boasting he said that he had killed important Khalistanis, on several occasions. He also said that within the Amritsar District he has 20-25 associates. I and my associates go around in a car and eliminate any Khalistani wherever we spot them. I have orders to capture them or kill them.
I have killed 40 people since November 8 6. He also showed the journalists a card which he said was a permit. The card had a hand written note stating that the bearer of the letter is Santokh Singh Kala along with arms and ammunition is working for the 25th battalion of the CRPF in Amritsar. It was signed by and bore the purple stamp of the Commandment of the 25th battalion.
New Hampshire Sunday News reported on the activities of Kala thus:
“A senior police officer said, “It is a war like situation and at times you have to take decision that are not right. He said that Rajiv Gandhi’s government was aware of this new technique. Terrorism cannot be controlled by traditional methods…Kala said that when they broke the law they informed senior police officers about it and the police did not Register any cases against them.”
Using the special powers given by the police, Kala and his associates extorted money by using letter pads, captured from the militants, and sending threatening letters on them, and extorting large sums of money. They also started looting vans but when it was widely publicized in the media, Azhar Alam checked them though they continued to prey on the villagers; the second in command of Kala’s gang was Surinder Pal Singh Dhuk.
