We present to you here a translation of a report of police atrocities in two districts of Punjab. The original report is in Punjabi: An attempt has been made to preserve the authenticity and flavor of the original in this English translation. Therefore a minimal amount of editing has been done even though at times the style and language appear awkward.
A report on the Government Sponsored Terrorism of Women in Punjab. (With Reference to a few villages in the Districts of Batala and Ludhiana).
Women’s Forum, Punjab .
We are grateful to Justice Ajit Singh Bains (Former Judge Punjab and Haryana High Court, Gurbhajan Singh Gill (Former Deputy Superintendent of Police) D.S. Gill (Secretary, Sikh Lawyers Council); Gurcharan Singh Ghuman, Advocate, Ludhiana; Bhai Mohinder Singh Jawanda, Ludhiana; Kanwaljit Kaur (Editor, Sampark); and the many council members and council heads of villages of Batala district, lawyers and intellectuals (who, recognizing the delicacy of the times, wish to remain anonymous) who, by their encouragement, assistance and close collaboration have enabled us to chronicle the continuing violence being done to the women of Punjab by the police and to present this report to the people of this nation.
Women’s Forum Punjab
To The Forthright (Honest) People of This Nation.
For the women of Punjab, this past one year was like to having to stand without clothes in the burning heat of the sun. Police terrorism in the Punjab has crossed all bounds. At this time, in spite of all the Black Laws and State terrorism, we raise our voice to reach you so that you too can feel some of the pain of the Punjabi women.
A team appointed by Women’s Forum has collected documented evidence of police terrorism directed against women in some villages of Districts Ludhiana and Batala. These cases provide glaring evidence of the continuing terrorism all over Punjab. Our pen cannot adequately convey to you the pain of these women. Their suffering cannot be easily felt or shared. These cases are living testimony to the suffering of Punjabi women.
Historical: Since 1984 when Punjab came under the heel of Punjab police and many armed gangs, untold numbers of innocents have languished in jails. Countless number of young men have been killed by police in fake encounters; many continue to be brutalized in new detention centers.
Because of their political and religious views, some women too were caught in this web of violence but they were few. Instances include the repeated arrest of Bimal Khalsa (wife of Beant Singh); the arrest of the women singers (chorale) from Nabha, the arrest and continued detention in Jodhpur of many women arrested at the Golden Temple, Amritsar in June 1984 in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star; raids at the houses of the rebellious young people, the abusive interrogation of women; the arrest of the parents of Panthic Committee member Wassan Singh Zaffarwal; the killing of a pregnant woman by the Border Security Police in district Gurdaspur, etc.
One heart rendering incident occurred as follows: In searching for rebellious young men, 50 to 60 police surrounded a barn and without warning started firing. It was just past 7 p.m. when bullets started smashing windows. The women inside were petrified. Taking stock of the situation, some older women hid the children in closets. In spite of widespread firing all around her, the oldest lady in the house decided to come out of the house. She said, “I have lived my life and cannot now see children massacred in front of my eyes!” She came out and from behind a pillar shouted: “Stop firing — you can come in and search the house. There is nothing to hide.” The policemen, drunk on liquor, however kept on firing. After 10 to 15 minutes an officer gave the command to cease firing. During the search, no male was found. The men in the family were in the city that day; 13 women and children were found. The police were abusive. In the winter’s cold, children and women including the mother of a two week old baby were forced out of the house. Not even blankets were allowed to them.
In December 1986, for the first time, armed units molested and raped women in village Brahampura, near Tarantaran district of Amritsar. When Avtar Singh Brahampura escaped the cordon of police, the police retaliated by venting their anger on innocent people, by beating them up and by raping and molesting five women. One of those young women spent the night without clothes, hiding behind some bushes. This angered the people so much that the government had to transfer the responsible battalion of Central Reserve Police Force out of that area but the people’s demand for justice and trial of those responsible was never accepted.
From mid1987, atrocities on women by the police and armed gangs have crossed all bounds. Now such incidents of violence are not related to any particular search operation for wanted people, raids or interrogation of people. In fact, it appears that the Central government has granted unlimited powers to armed units so that they can suppress the voice of revolution in Punjab. They haye resorted to atrocities on women for they appear unable to prevail on the young people of Punjab by beatings, unlawful arrests, torture in special prisons and by the so called encounters. This is a direct challenge to the self-respect and dignity of the Punjabi people. This way they can suppress the people but they forge these such incidents, instead of controlling the people, cause further conflagration.
In order to collect solid facts, a three member committee of the Women’s Forum consisting of Dr. Jiwan Kaur who had worked under direction of Justice Ajit Singh Bains, Vice President of the Punjab Human Rights Organization, Kanwal Sandhu (LL.B.) and Sri Gaupat, Advocate toured some villages of Batala and Ludhiana districts.
Some Incidents of Batala District
Batala subdivision lies in Gurdaspur district but has been made a special police district and the police have been granted special powers. This district has been subject to the maximum police brutality. Law of the jungle prevails in this area the domain of Senior Superintendent Gobind Ram. In addition because of their special powers the men of BSF and CRP terrorize everybody. There is hardly a village among the 40 to 50 villages surrounding the Hargobind Pur police precinct where the people have not been suppressed at the hands of the police. This investigation team found the following instances of police brutality of women,
Ajit Singh Shah and his family live on a farm on the outskirts of village Padha, Police post Hargobindpur. One night, some armed young men came to the farm and at the point of a gun, demanded and received food and shelter for one night.
In the morning leaving a man behind, they took a sick associate into town. The police raided the house at dawn and arrested the one man who had been left behind. For the next one and a half hours he was brutally interrogated, finally he was shot. The whole family was taken out of the house and kicked and beaten with gun butts.
Bibi Sukhyinder Kaur, wife of Balwant Singh (son of Ajit Singh Shah) told us; “We were beaten by the police and by the BSF. I was hit with boots and stepped on. They used vulgar abusive language and demanded to know why we had provided food for the young rebels. We replied that we had to for they had guns. The police accused us of sleeping with the rebels. What are we to do? Don’t we have any self-respect or dignity. Can they say what they like? When rebels come with guns what are we to do? Our licensed and registered weapons have already been confiscated by the government. This happened in December 1988. Those days were very cold. The police forced males out of the house and made them remove their clothes, we were then forced to sit with our men. You know, I normally keep my head averted from my father-in-law. I was feeling very embarrassed but was helpless. After about 2 hours the men were allowed to put on clothes. Then they took my father-in-law, my husband, another relative a guest and myself to the police station. I was kept there for 5 days. There was no woman cop either at the time of arrest or at the station.
Daljit Kaur, daughter of Shiv Singh of village Nadha was told by the police that your aunt wants you. When the family members refused to send this Sikh girl alone, the police dragged her away. The mother, Piar Kaur went along. Both were kept at the police station overnight. Members of this family are still in jail; the remaining women of the family live out on the farm passing their days in fear. She also told us that the police had looted their house.
The same day, another incident occurred in Padha village. On hearing gunfire, the village headman, Sohan Singh who is a retired army man, asked the watchman to summon members of the village council. He stated: “Only four rounds had been fired. We were in the village when the Senior Superintendent of Police came with his force and started abusing us. He was angry that we had not gone to receive some dignitary who was visiting. He then started beating us and using profane language.” Sohan Singh interceded, saying: “Please stop. You have beaten us enough. Do not abuse us further.” This further infuriated the SSP. We were all humiliated by having to touch our noses to the ground a hundred times each. We were then taken to the Gurdwara and forced to deliver speeches abusive of the rebels. The village council members are old yet they were dragged to the police station and locked in a cell overnight with about 90 inmates. There was not enough room to sit and they had to stand all night. They were released 24 hours later.
Whether these events occurred in the house of AJit Singh Shah or with the council members, they occurred in presence of, and under the direct orders of, Senior Superintendent of police Gobind Ram.
Village Ballewal
The investigation team met Manjit Kaur (wife) and Prakash Kaur (mother) of Nirvar Singh Ballewal. Nirvar Singh, a minister at a Gurdwara Shaheedan, Amritsar. He was shot by police on the steps of the temple and removed in a jeep. Manjit ran after the police. They beat her with rifle butts. People rescued her. On 24 Sept. 1987, it was learned that an extremist had been killed. Some people claimed the dead body of Nirvar Singh from the police and returned it to the family. His younger brother, Kulwant Singh had joined the rebels. The police raided the house a number of times looking for Kulwant. His mother Prakash had been taken to the police station for interrogation about 15 times.
During one of the raids, another younger brother, Dilbagh Singh, a minister at Baba Bakala Gurdwara, hid behind the house. The police shot Dilbagh in the back and killed him. The team saw bullet marks on a wall of the house. Manjit was badly beaten and dragged by her hair to a wheat field. After about an hour and a half of torture, she fainted and was thrown over the body of Dilbagh with the taunt: “Now get your Khalistan.” Her hands and feet were so badly swollen that she could not get out of bed for several days and she was bleeding from her scalp. This occurred on May 2nd, 1988. Dharam Singh, the village head, lives near Nirvar Singh. He and his family are eyewitnesses. When he arrived at the scene he was beaten by the police and warned not to pursue this matter.
Pritam Singh is a school teacher at Ballewal. He and his wife Shavinder Kaur have two grown sons. Even this family could not escape the clutches of the police. His fault is that he is the uncle of Dilbagh, Nirvar and Kulwant. Shavinder had been taken to the police station 3 times and was detained there for 3 nights once and 2 nights the other times. Their son, Harjit, was in custody for ten days without being charged. He was beaten and was asked to give information about Kulwant. Now Kulwant has been arrested yet this family has not been let alone. Now the demand is to give information on Balvinder, from a neighboring village. The elderly mother and Shavinder told us that “the police humiliate us during their raids. They use profanity that we are too embarrassed to report to you. We were arrested by male police and there were no policewomen even at the station. We are so scared that we are frightened of any unusual sounds.”
Swaran Kaur, the unmarried daughter of Assa Singh of village Ballewal, was kept in custody at the Dayenand Andlo Vedic school, Kadian by the BSF. She was arrested for harboring extremists but was never charged. Assa Singh is the minister at the Gurdwara at Shahpur.
He admits that some months earlier at a sermon he had recommended that people abstain from alcohol and should not have marriage parties of more than 10 people. The village council was summoned by the police and offered weapons to defend the village. When they expressed their inability to do so, the council members were arrested and kept in jail overnight. This occurred on Jan 16, 17, 1989. ;
Village Sarchur
On January 10th Gobind Ram accompanied by several policemen and BSF troops raided Sarchur. This village of 4,000 people is about 18 kilometers from Batala. The people of Sarchur and neighboring villages Kotlik Bhangali Nasirke, Peherowal etc., were assembled at the focal point of Sarchur. They were abused verbally and accused of sheltering extremists and offering their daughters to them. The young men were forced to lie prone on the ground and were beaten with sticks, belts and gun butts until their skins peeled. This was done for one hour. People were screaming but Gobind Ram was not satisfied. He ordered people to repeat slogans after him berating a woman of the village, Surjit Kaur and her two daughters, Manjit (15 years) and Rajinder (10) years old. Surjit is an Akali leader of the village and has been imprisoned for 5 months. A retired army officer, Charan Singh, could no longer tolerate this and refused to join in the slogans. He was seized, put in a truck, taken to the police station and kept at Fatehgarh Churian Station for three days. Gobind Ram taunted that when Surjit Kaur comes out of jail he would see to it that she is paraded without clothes through the village. Before returning he threatened the women with dire consequences if they protested against his behavior. Some families then sent their daughters to relatives far away Surjit Kaur was badly beaten by the police. Both her daughters had been taken to the station as well. Part of the conversation with the elder daughter, Manjit, is reproduced here. This interview was conducted by two intellectuals Narayan Kumar and Ashok Aggarwal.
Q: Who do you live with?
A: We live with our father who is out in the fields. He was badly tortured and was taken to the police station at least 10 times. The police also harassed me and my sister.
Q: Why does the police harass you?
They took us to the police station. Why? When?
A: I don’t remember the date. About a month ago.
Q: To which police station did they take you?
A; Sadar, Batala.
Q: Did they tell you why you have been arrested?
A: No. Father was told that we (the police) are taking both the girls.
Q: How did the police treat you?
A: Very badly. They said very bad things to us (at this time, Manjit broke down into tears and we recognized that further conversation was impossible so we changed the subject).
Q: How is your mother? Did you meet her in jail?
A: How can we go see her alone? Our father has to take care of the fields. Yes, we did see her in the court. She did not look good. The police have treated her very badly.
Q: How did you find out?
A: Our mother told us so herself in the court. Q: Have you heard the name Gobind Ram?
A: Yes, he forced the people of our village to raise slogans abusing our mother. Also, when the police came to our house, he was abusive. We are very scared of him. We dread to leave home.
Mari Buchian
Details of atrocities committed by the police and its agents are as follows:
When the Sikh Students Federation took control of the Gurdwaras, the management of Damdama Sahib, Hargobindpur became a matter of dispute. Therefore the village council requested the Shromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) to assume management. The committee pleaded its inability to do so, and unanimously assigned this responsibility to Bhagwant Singh of Damdami Taksaal. Everybody youched for this man’s integrity.
Ajit Singh Poohla of that area, is in league with the police. He maintains 40 to 50 armed guards. On January 18, 1989 at about 6 p.m. Ajit and his guards attacked Bhagwant’s home. He claimed that he wanted to search the place. Bhagwant was not at home; his wife was visiting her parents with the kids. After the search, they started dragging his brother Harpal, who lives with them, science teacher at Ghuman. Harpal resisted and hung onto the window grill. At that time he was carrying is 2 year old son in his arms. They grabbed the child and threw him away: In this tussle, Harpal’s hands were badly injured; signs of the injury were seen by the team. His wife Maniderjit Kaur and mother Gurbachan Kaur pleaded with them but were also kicked and accused of harboring extremists. The houses were looted. The team noted that the police had supported groups of raiders like these who commit acts of vandalism: This was confirmed by the lawyers at Batala. Once such people were caught in two scooter stealing incidents and the arms found on them had been registered with the police. Some knowledgeable people who wish to remain anonymous and also some lawyers claim that crimes in this area are being committed by police supported gangs.
In village Cheema, police post Hargobindpur, a young man named Jaugraj Singh had joined the rebels several years earlier and is now known as Tufaan Singh. He is the only brother of five sisters. Two or three times, police had brought his sisters to the station and twice the village council had got them released. Now the police badly mistreated the sisters and their mother. Finally tiring of this, the family left the village. All this happened after Gobind Ram took charge of the police in this area.
In Sundwa village police post Hargobindpur the wife and daughter-in-law of Dalip Singh have been accused of sheltering extremists.
In village Tapiala, Hargobindpur police post, Gurmej Kaur, wife of Bhagwan Singh was badly beaten. Their house was destroyed and set on fire. Their son was killed. They were accused of harboring extremists.
Nirmal Kaur of village Sundwa, police post Hargobindpur was accused of sheltering extremists.
Women and children were assembled at the focal point of Nassarpura and badly beaten.
Women were beaten at Kadian village. Some had their wrists broken. When the village council went to the police station to demonstrate, they were treated very badly.
The village council of Buttar went also to complain about police harassment and misuse of power. In turn, they were badly treated and beaten up. Many more cases from the neighboring areas had come to the attention of the team but could not be pursued because of a lack of time. The team felt that women hesitated to tell them about their mistreatment because of societal and familial considerations. The team also noted the mistreatment by the police of the village councilmen whereas according to law, every time that the police goes into a village it should consult with the council. Such consultation never occurred and when the council members went to the station to protest the mistreatment of women the council members were themselves beaten or abused or treated as traitors. For this reason 21 councils submitted their resignations to the deputy commissioner of district Gurdaspur.
At Talwandi Lal Singh village, Gian Singh was arrested. His wife Prakash Kaur was forced to lie on the ground and policemen stood on wooden planks on her thighs. She was screaming and another policeman stood on the chest of her ten year old son. Afterward the police took her away and at 10 p.m. in the midwinter she was dropped off on a bridge leading to the village. This was related by Gurdial Singh of that village, in the presence of Dalsair Singh Kalla and Sub Divisional Magistrate Kulwant Singh and was reported in the Tribune on January 3, 1989.
The village head of Harbhajan told a gathering at Harcharanpur village that a child returning from school was taken away by the BSF and released only after 14 days of torture. Gurdev Singh, 44 years old, also of this village was killed in a fake encounter by the police, This was reported by the Tribune on January 3, 1989.
A conference on people’s power was organized at village Sunderpura in Batala district which was addressed by the Punjab Governor .S. Ray who asked for the people’s cooperation. The people related their stories of police excesses to the Governor. Ray appeared shocked and ordered an inquiry into the incidents at Mari Buchian. The governor admitted that the cases of two women had been handled by policemen and not policewomen, The truth is that there are many more incidents like this. From every village, women have been taken to police stations where there are no women constables.
Ambo, the mother of Jagdish, village Shankarpur; Prakash Kaur wife of Gian Singh village Rakhia; Kulwant Kaur mother of Balvinder Singh, village of Shakarpur related many incidents of police atrocities at the conference on people’s power. After the incident at village Padha, a police force of 11 jeeps under the command of Gobind Ram raided the house of Sital Singh which is on the outskirts of village Mattewal and brutalized his wife and sister-in-law. Two years earlier also a police officer had pushed the wife against a wall so that her skull was fractured.
In December 1988, about 200 police and BSF troops raided the house of the head of village Ghogey. His servant and wife were badly beaten. When the head of village Kotla went to protest police atrocities, his wife was beaten.
This chronicle of police atrocities is hardly complete. It is impossible to survey all the villages of Punjab. People are afraid even to speak. When an old man was asked why he doesn’t report this behavior of the police, he answered that lives have not been lost and if he reports on them, they will kill us and blame the extremists for the deaths.
An elderly woman of village Kastiwal told us that her son is so scared of the police that he has not returned home in 4 years. The police has arrested him several times and has also looted the house.
Events of Ludhiana Districts
Ravinder Kaur Khalsa, unmarried daughter of Ranjit Singh was arrested on July 9, 1987. She was released and rearrested on Sept. 7, 1987 under the National Security Act. The courts ordered her release but she was arrested for the third time when somebody shot a man named Jagvinder Singh. For three to four days she was tortured at the police station. On July 10 a case was filed against her for harboring extremists. The case has now been dismissed by the special courts.
Kuldip Kaur, widow of Darshan Singh, village Chama, was arrested by the police and tortured for 15 days. She was paraded around naked for 5 days in Ahmedgarh. On Oct, 21, 1988 she was charged with harboring extremists and possessing stolen property.
At present her case is in the court of Magistrate First Class J. S. Katari in which the widow has complained of being dishonored by the police.
Nachittar Kaur, wife of Charan Singh, village Chak Sarawa Nath, was arrested at her home and detained at the police station for 8 to 4 days. She was subjected to abusive language and mistreated. Case 159 was filed against her on Dec. 15, 1988 for activities against the Anti-Terrorist Act.
Gurmel Kaur, wife of Ajit Singh and Jarnail Kaur wife of Harbans Singh both of village Chandra police post Sahnewal were arrested with Nachetter Kaur.
Jaswant Kaur wife of Avtar Singh, village Kila Ajnaud police post Khanna had gone to attend a funeral bhog. The police took her to the station, tortured her for one day and booked her under the Anti Terrorist Act and for speaking against the government. She made bail and told people about atrocities against her and others. She was then rearrested on Feb. 14, 1989 and badly tortured on Feb. 19 and remanded to prison on Feb. 21.
Prof. Rajinderpal Singh Gill of Punjab Agricultural University was killed by the police in a fake encounter. His wife Rajinder Kaur Gill, M.A. was arrested by the focal point of Ludhiana on Dee. 12, 1988 and tortured under instructions of the inspector.
A case for harboring terrorists was registered against her on Dec. 13, 1988.
Krishna wife of Hardey Singh of Ghabbi is the mother of 5 daughters and a son, A head constable has repeatedly threatened to kill her son. Two of her daughters were arrested one a BA student and were dishonored at the police station by the head constable and others. Case 370 was registered against them on Dec. 15, 1988. Krishna’s husband was also arrested but is now on bail.
Charanjit Singh Channi son of Master Devraj Singh, has joined the rebels and the police has been looking for him. His wife Harbans and sisterinlaw Jasvir were arrested and warned that Harban’s two young children 2% and 4% years old, would be tortured.
The unmarried sister of Channi was also taken to Rajkot police station, insulted and warned that her family would be killed. However, some influential people were able to get her released.
Jit Rani of New Vishnu Puri. Her house was raided on the night of January 11, 1989, by police inspector. Her husband! was ordered to go with them, but when she protested, she was kicked by the police. As a result she had a miscarriage after seven months of pregnancy.
Jaswant Kaur’s daughter Manjit, of Jagranwan village, was arrested along with her children. The police took her to a secret hiding place and her parents had no idea where she was for many days. Manjit’s mother has also been arrested several times.
This chronicle of police atrocities is hardly complete. It is impossible to survey all the villages of Punjab. People are afraid even to speak. When an old man was asked why he doesn’t report this behavior of the police, he answered that lives have not been lost and if he reports on them, they will kill us and blame the extremists for the deaths.
Now another critical problem has come to our attention. That is the work of armed gangs under the direction of the police. Many incidents of this nature have come to our attention but are beyond the scope of this report. The excesses of the police are common place; these practices reach back to the top brass of the police and Central government in Delhi. The judgment of who is an extremist is in the hands of the police and not the courts.
Three affidavits are appended to the main body of this report.
The space for the supplement on the report of “Nari Manch” has been donated by Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan Society Gurdwara Sahib Caruthers (Fresno), Gurdwara Singh Sabha Glen Rock, New Jersey, through its president S. Kamikkar Singh and Sikh Cultural Society Gurdwara Sahib Richmond Hills, New York.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 21, 1989
