I, Ajit Singh Bains, former Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, resident of 22, Sector 2, Chandigarh do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:

  1. That I served as a Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh for about 10 years. I was appointed by the Punjab Government in 1985 as Chairman of a Committee to process the Criminal cases pending in the courts of Punjab and at Jodhpur and to recommend action on then. This committee also included Mr. Lal Chand Sabherwal, a Senior Advocate of Punjab, Mr. M.R.Midha, a Joint Director Prosecution, Punjab and Mr. Gurdarshan Singh Grewal, the then Advocate General of Punjab. The Committee unanimously concluded that almost 90% of all the criminal cases launched against Sikh Youth were fabricated and trumped-up. The Committee only heard the Police and the Police could not satisfy the Committee in almost 90% cases.
  2. One of these false cases relates to the alleged attempt on the life of Mr. A.P.Pande (Indian Police Services) Officer of Punjab posted at Ludhiana. Also implicated in the case are the defendants in the present case. The above mentioned committee on the basis of the non-availabity of evidence concluded that the Pande case was a complete fabrication and that the incident was merely a case of accident. Mr.R.L.Anand, Designate Court at Ludhiana under the Anti-Terrorist Act, in his judgment also stated that no case of conspiracy had been made out.
  3. The Committee examined the cases in depth of Jodhpur detainees and recommended unanimously the release of all the detenus. I sent a detailed report on this issue to the Amnesty International London.
  4. Not only the innocent persons in India are kept for prolonged durations in Jails but many of them are tortured by the police and security agencies to extort confessions from them. One such incident at Ladha Kothi in Patiala District of Punjab State was enquired under order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Justice C.S.Tiwana headed the enquiry commission.
  5. I head the only human rights organisation in Punjab. This organisation set up a committee of Lawyers and others to probe the charges of fake encounters at Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab where 10 persons were killed in encounters by the Government of India’s Border Security Force after dubbing them ‘Pakistani intruders’.
  6. The Punjab Human Rights Organisation which 1 head is currently enquiring into the allegations of fake encounters in Punjab particularly since the promulgation of Central Government’s rule in Punjab in May 1987. Our estimate is that about 1000 Sikhs have been killed during the past few months. In Faridkot District alone about 50 persons have been killed although the State administration only admits of 25 deaths.
  7. Even some Jail inmates are taken out of prisons and killed in fake encounters. Two such outstanding cases are those of Roshan Lal Batiragi and Bhindi. Justice I.S.Tiwana or Punjab and Haryana Court on the basis of allegations of false encounters while transferring from one to another jail granted stay to one Anokh Singh, a Babbar Khalsa activist.
  8. One Mathura Singh alleged to be involved in the murder of General A.S. Vaidya has been killed in a false encounter with the police.
  9. I am convinced that a fair trial in India is not possible under the present circumstances of those allegedly involved in the killing General Vaidya. There is every danger of the Youths arrested in this connection being eliminated in take encounters.

Chandigarh

August 14, 1987.