The Indian government has repeatedly denied visa requests by Amnesty International representatives to visit Punjab to confirm human rights violations. The chairman of Punjab Human Rights Organization, Justice Ajit Singh Bains, who has documented 166 human rights violation cases was prevented from addressing Human Rights Commission of the United Nations in Geneva. On the other hand, the Indian government facilitated the visit of Congressman Stephen Solarz, the spokesman of the Indian government in the U.S.A. to exonerate itself of the charges of human rights violations. Following is a graphic account of the sufferings of the Sikh children incarcerated in Indian jails since Operation Blue Star in June, 1984, written by an eminent Hindu journalist Gobind Thukrai. There were other victims of Operation Bluestar little children, some only two years old, who got rounded up when the army swept through the Punjab countryside throwing over 18,000 suspected militants into jail. Since then, 39 children have been languishing in two Ludhiana jails. ‘There is four year old Rinku whose father died during the army operation and whose mother has been missing since then. Like the rest of the “infant terrorist” Rinku had to go through a grueling interrogation. When asked where his mother was, he replied, “I do not know.” Asked where his father was, he said, “killed with a gun”. Why his stomach was so big, “Because I eat clay.” Then there is the earnest 12 year old Bablu who calls Bhindranwale his chacha. He insists that he be included among the militants and tried. There is Zaida Khatoon, a Bangladeshi woman who stopped to get food for her five children at the Golden Temple and ended in jail.
Their ordeal began in early June when they were picked up around the Temple and packed into camps in Amritsar and Jalandhar. Initially army did not know what to do with the children. Some of the lucky ones were locked up with their parents, but they all faced the same charge: breach of peace under section 107 to prevent commission of congnisable offence under Section 107 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). They were finally sent to Ludhiana.
And then the nightmare began. Two central agencies, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) began their questioning. There were long intimidating sessions. The children cried and begged to be sent home. But it sent on for days. Their little finger prints were taken and IB sleuths set about verifying their bonafides. One interrogating officer admitted that not many officials were moved by the children’s cries,
The children continued to be locked up in a dingy old jail in the sprawling industrial city. Some were moved to a new maximum security prison outside the city, Of the 39 children, 10 were with their parents, mostly their mothers. Another 15 were students of the Damdami Taksal an Institution founded by Guru Gobind Singh to train children in music and Gurbani, which was last headed by Sant Jarnali Singh Bhindranwale. These students all of them ardent Sikhs. had been camping in the Golden Temple complex and some had learnt to use arms. Three of them have now been classified as dangerous militants,
Sadly enough, their interrogators, the CBI and IB have shown little regard to any civil liberties or laws protecting, young children, All the children have been booked for violating prohibitory orders under Section 144 or Section 107/151. It is a fact that they were picked up from Golden Temple or at best are said to have surrendered. but these offences are bailable and in fact these sections are merely prohibitory used by law enforcing agencies to stop processions and strikes. The authorities have paid no heed to the Children Act 1960 or the East Punjab Children Act 1976. The long agoising inquisition apart, the children have been clubbed with known militants, criminals and antisocial elements. Under the law, children younger than 16 years old the case of males and 18 in the case of females, cannot be detained either at a police station or in the regular jail and the lofty laws that protect and respect the child have all been violated. Children are supposed to be kept in special institutions or reform schools but the Punjab Government has hardly been bothered, as the central agencies continued with their grueling and often callous investigations. Confessed a CBI officer: “These are all fine ideas for newspapers and preachers. We had ‘on our hands suspected militants and would be militants.
Recently some relief seemed to be on the way at last. Kamladevi Chattopadhyaay, the wellknown social worker, petitioned the Supreme Court for the children. A division bench consisting of Chinappa Reddy, AP. Sen and ES. Venkataramiah directed the Ludhiana district judge to remove the children from the jails and lodge them ina better placeat the cost of the state. The Punjab Government was also directed to trace their relationship and file particulars to the court. Ironically enough, the same day these orders were issued, a Ludhiana magistrate remanded four children arrested from the Temple on June 6 to judicial custody, till further orders. The youngest of these children, Jasbir Kauris only two years old, her sister Charanjit Kaur is four, and her brothers. Harinder and Balwinder are six and twelve. These children are charged with disobeying the prohibitory order under Section 144 of the CrPC.
On August 1, 11 senior opposition leaders had demanded that the detained kids be either released or at least segregated. But it was only after the Supreme Court directive that the authorities began acting. Within five days the parents of six children were located from districts as far away as Paunta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh. Hissar in Haryana and Nainital in Uttar Pradesh. They had gone to the Golden Temple to pray when they were caught in the army cross fire. District Magistrate KR. Lakhanpal had earlier sought the governor’s approval to release the children but had not met with any success. Said he, “We were alive to the human problem but somehow in this charged atmosphere quick release could not take place. The children had to be cleared intelligence agencies buts Most critically place are those children whose parents face various charges. While District Judge Jai Singh Sekhon is for total segregation, the administration has not yet agreed. “They have to be with their parents only and since the parents cannot be kept out of jail. they remain where they are,” said Lakhapal. The fate, as well as the fate of those in Category C, the most dangerous, depends upon the Supreme Court which takes up the case this fortnight, Meanwhile 39 little beings continue to pray for freedom every day.
Their ordeal began in early June when they were picked up around the Temple and packed into camps in Amritsar and Jalandhar. Initially army did not know what to do with the children. Some of the lucky ones were locked up with their parents, but they all faced the same charge: breach of peace under section 107 to prevent commission of congnisable offence under Section 107 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). They were finally sent to Ludhiana.
The Punjab Government was also directed to trace their relationship and file particulars to the court. Ironically enough, the same day these orders were issued a Ludhiana magistrate remanded four children arrested from the Temple on June 6 to judicial custody, till further orders. The youngest of these children, Jasbir Kaur is only two years old, her sister Charanjit Kaur is four, and her brothers, Harinder and Balwinder are six and twelve. These children are charged with disobeying the prohibitory order under Section 144 aof the CrPC.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 8, 1989
