CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and a number of political parties and human rights organizations have demanded an end to the bullet-for-bullet policy in Punjab and replacement of the present repressive machinery by a humane and responsive system operating under some checks and balances.
In a memorandum submitted to the Governor Surendra Nath and released to the press on Wednesday these organizations said they deplored the killings of all the innocents but the license to kill the innocents issued by the previous regimes to the police in the name of bullet-for-bullet policy was fit to be condemned in the strictest of terms.
They said when officers of the State Government were permitted to commit crimes on the ground that they were defending the State the oppressed people had a right to resist and this could result in a total anarchy and chaos. They expressed the hope that Surendra Nath would be fair and honest about the whole issue. They further alleged that fake encounters were being staged in Punjab and Chandigarh and an unabated reign of terror had been let loose in utter disregard of law and justice. The political consequences flowing out of deprivation of liberty freedom right to life and worship were bound to aggravate the problem.
The memorandum specifically mentioned the case of the death of a Chandigarh police constable due to alleged torture in police custody and taking into custody of the Babbar Akali Dal spokesman Rajinder Pal Singh from Mohali. The memorandum signed by the Babbar Akali Dal convenor Kartar Singh Narang also included the names of the Punjab human rights organization movement against state repression member Hans Raj Sharma the chairman of Punjab bachao morcha Kuldip Singh Wadala the General Secretary Akali Dal (Badal) Baldev Singh Sibia the president SGPC and Ajmer Singh Lakhowal the president of Bharatiya Kisan Union.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 20, 1991
