NEW YORK, NY: The international human rights organization Amnesty International USA ‘filed on November 27 a amicus curiae brief in the extradition case of Sukhminder Singh and Ranjit Singh Gill. The 28 page brief, is in turn supported by an appendix consisting of 15 separate documents that bear on the aspects of the Human Rights situation in India In general and the case in particular.
In filing the brief, the organization said, “Amnesty International believes that it has relevant background information concerning the human rights situation in India particularly as it applies to the Sikh community which may assist the court in re viewing this case.”
The brief concludes that “Based on its information, Amnesty International respectfully summits that Sikhs, particularly those suspected of advocating the transformation of the present state of Punjab to a separate and independent state of Khalistan, face a definite risk of being tortured, of becoming victims in extrajudicial killings in staged “en counters”. In addition per sons charged with politically motivated offenses carrying the death penalty, risk convictions and executions based on insufficient evidence. It Is Al’s understanding that petitioners Mr. Gill and Mr. Sandhu are Sikhs and members of the all India Sikh Students Federation, a group which advocates an In dependent Sikh state, and as such, would if extradited to India, risk being sentenced to death following a unfair trill, killed in a false “en counter” staged by the po lice, or tortured.”
A status conference will be held on the case on December 6 In which the consuls of the respondents and the persecution will discuss the course of the case and the reply to the government attorney’s memorandum of law will be presented to Judge Sweet who is presiding over their habeas corpus petition as well as the Amnesty International’s brief.
Both have been functionaries of the all India Sikh Students Federation and had escaped from India after being falsely implicated in a case of attempted murder of a superintendent of police called A.P.Pandey. A commission of Inquiry appointed by the Punjab government and headed by Justice Ajit Singh Bains had exonerated both of them but the Police still did not drop the cases against them.
They were also accused of killing former Indian army general Vaidya who had lead the army’s bloody assault in the Golden Temple in 1984 in which Harjinder Singh “Jinda” and Sukhdev Singh “Sukha” were recently sentenced to death by an Indian Designate Court (WSN Oct. 27). A designated court is one which is held in a jail or other restricted place and in which the normal laws of Jurisprudence are suspended.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 1, 1989
