On Sept.13, 1991 the Immigration and Naturalization Service decided not to appeal the decision of Judge Phillip Lead better granting political asylum in the United States to Davinder Singh. A native of Punjab India. On Sept.3, 1991 Judge Lead better found that Singh faced political persecution in his native India and that the evidence introduced in court corroborated Singh’s testimony of his brutal torture by the Indian police before he fled India In dramatic testimony Singh recounted how the Indian police stripped him naked bound his hands and feet and suspended him upside down from the ceiling. While Singh dangled from the ceiling members of the Indian police repeatedly beat him with leather straps. Singh was then forced to the floor of his cell where the police repeatedly pulled his legs as far as they would stretch and applied electric shock to his extremities and genitals.
Judge Lead better found that Singh’s testimony was consistent with the May 1991 Amnesty International Report entitled “India Human Rights Violations in Punjab Use and Abuse of the Law”. The Amnesty Report found that there was “a clear pattern to the arrests detentions torture and “disappearances” of Sikhs in Punjab India.
Singh’s courtroom testimony also closely mirrored the recently released report by Human Rights Watch (August 1991) entitled “Human Rights in India Punjab in Crisis”. According to the report “[f]
or more than a decade the state of Punjab in northern India has been in the grip of one of the bloodiest conflicts in India’s post-independence history. Government forces operating in Punjab have systematically violated international human rights Jaw and the international laws of war protecting civilians in internal armed conflict. Detainees are routinely subjected to torture in police stations prisons and detention camps.
Singh was originally detained in November of 1987 by the Punjab Police and Central Reserve Police. His political activities had come to the attention of the authorities because of his prominent position in the All Indian Sikh Student Federation (“Federation”). The Federation is a leading political force in northern India where the organization is in the forefront of the struggle for an independent Sikh state Khalistan. (Khalistan is the area in the north of India (Punjab) where 60% of the population is Sikhs). Singh served as General Secretary of the Federation in the important Jallandhar District of Punjab. As General Secretary Singh was widely known as an opponent of the Indian government and had achieved prominence as an advocate of the movement for an independent Khalistan.
Singh’s detention and torture in November of 1987 lasted for over one month. On February 15, 1989 he was once again rousted from his bed at 4 a.m. in the morning and taken to an interrogation center While being interrogated about his activities in connection with the Federation the police again hung him upside down from the ceiling and applied electric shock torture After 10 days he was released without charge.
On February 28, 1991 the police again arrived at Singh’s home at 3 a.m. Warned by his father of the police arrival he climbed over the roof of his family home and escaped apprehension. Unable to find Singh the police arrested his father who was held for six days without charge. Singh remained in hiding until he fled India looking for reguge in the United States.
Singh was represented by Rober Jobe of the Law Firm of Jobe & Melrod in San Francisco. (Jobe & Melrod currently represents over 75 Sikhs from seeking political asylum in the United States. According to Mr.Jobe “In Punjab brutal torture of innocent Sikhs has become routine. Over the past year thousands of Sikhs have arrived in this country with frightening accounts of arbitrary arrests disappearances and torture. Judge Lead better’s decision protects Singh from further mistreatment of that kind”
During the September 3 hearing Jobe introduced extensive documentary evidence to support Singh’s claim for political asylum including Indian news accounts of his arrest and a signed statement from the Police Superintendent of the Jallandhar jail attesting to Singh’s 1987 arrest. Also introduced was the Order of Jallandhar Court dismissing the charges against Singh. Looking back on his ordeal in Punjab Singh commented “The Jallandhar Court may have dropped their phone charges but I’ll never forget the days and nights of torture I suffered. I was an innocent man but in the eye of the Indian government I was guilty of being a Sikh who believed in an independent.
On September 13 the INS put Singh’s fears of being returned to India to rest when it decided not to appeal Judge Lead better’s grant of political asylum On hearing the news Singh expressed joy for himself but remarked “T still worry about the thousands of Sikh political activists who are being detained without charge and are routinely tortured in Indian jails. I look forward to the day they too will be granted their political and human rights as I have been today”.
For further information contact: The law office of Jobe & Melrod (415) 9565513. Copies of “Human Rights in India: Punjab in Crisis” are available from: Human Rights Watch 485 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10017 (212) 9728400.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 27, 1991
