Sir,
In civilized societies the individual is not usually deprived of his life or liberty, for the sake of sheer revenge or on mere suspicion, however, there was no concrete evidence implicating Kehar Singh; even the circumstantial evidence produced in court was ambiguous and highly speculative as statements by the prominent civil liberties lawyer Ram Jethmalani and others prove. The only witness in the case had been in police custody for nearly two months where she was said to have had torture and other degrading punishments inflicted upon her. In that debilitated condition her statement was recorded, apparently under threats of further persecution.
From the onset the government ‘was engaged in its case against a person who they allege to have actually been behind the conspiracy of murdering Mrs. Gandhi, a prominent member of the AllIndia Sikh Student’s Federation, Attinder Pal Singh. The government should have allowed the police enquiries to be completed in his case and new evidence emerging from it may have vindicated Kehar Singh. Instead, by hanging. both Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh, the government has eliminated two potential witnesses who may have in future acted to prove the innocence of others allegedly involved in the conspiracy around Attinder Pal Singh.
India stands as one of the countries which has refused to sign the UN Convention against torture. The so-called Black Laws introduced under the guise of combating terrorism contravene legal safeguards enshrined in the Indian constitution and have been the object of intense criticism. Amnesty International for example, has issued a strongly worded condemnation of these acts and the accompanying state terror unleashed on mainly innocent not only Sikhs but against others like trade unionist, civil liberties, journalists, etc. Since India’s Emergency (19751977) the appointments to the Supreme court have been manipulated to suit the ruling party. ‘The judges are in addition, promised lucrative appointments after retirement, to various commissions. For example, one of the judges in Kehar Singh’s case was appointed Chairman of the Law Commission of India, even before retirement, which undoubtedly acted to influence his decision in conformity with government expectations. On this basis, it can be seen that there is in fact no independent judiciary in India, In acknowledgement of this state of affairs, the leading constitutional lawyers and politicians have recently declined to challenge the 59th Amendment declaring an internal state of emergency in Punjab. This acts to give a legal stamp to executive power. Civilized societies have long ago banned the death penalty due to the fact that an innocent life may be lost and that man has no right to deprive another of life. Embodied through the person and ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, India has an even stronger tradition of nonviolence acting to underline this precept. This has however, been irrevocably subverted through its act of retribution in the execution of Kehar Singh. Iqbal Singh National Director UK.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 14, 1989
