August 28 was a terrible day for the residents of village Chaura of police station Dera Baba Nanak, district Gurdaspur. Police surrounded the village at 3 am and tortured the entire village. Everybody was told to keep lying on their beds and was told that they would be killed if they moved even a muscle. No one was allowed to answer the call of nature or even to get themselves a drink of water.

All the residents were herded into the Gurdwara where they were questioned by Kuman Singh, the SHO of Dera Baba Nanak for information about Narain Singh, alias Shamsher Singh, acting conveyor of the Akal Federation. The villagers replied that he had not returned to the village since operation Blue Star. At this the police ordered them to lie on their stomachs and started belting them. Then they asked for Narain Singh’s father, Chanan Singh. The father stood up and identified himself. They placed a gun against his temple and asked him, “Where is your Narain Singh?” He said that he had not seen him since 5 years. At this they started beating him with batons till he fell unconscious.

An elderly man Jagir Singh said that despite the fact that his family had no links with Narain Singh’s family, his four sons were beaten so badly that they left their village the very next day. The police kept a gun on the temple of an 100 year old man Bhan Singh, and asked him about Narain Singh. He said he could not even repeat the filthy abuses which the SHO had hurled at him. The old man felt that they were better off dead than alive.

 The cops did not even spare the sick, the elderly, or the crippled. Avtar Singh, whose spine had fractured in a farm accident, pleaded with the police to spare him since he could not even move around and thus could do no wrong, but to no avail. Daljit Singh a crippled 11 th grade student, was also tortured mercilessly, as was Surjit Singh a member of the village governing body. The scars on his wounded body tell the horrifying story of his torture at the hands of the police. Balwinder Singh, Sukhjinder Singh, Wazir Singh, Swaran Singh, Makhan Singh, Tehal Singh, Jasbir Singh and many other young men of the village bear scars of the police torture. They were very angry and said that if the police continued beating them like this, even though they were innocent, they would be forced to leave the village.

Police did not spare even the workers and Dalits (so called untouchables). One Dalit, Rattan Chand Dholi, was tortured so badly that he is still bedridden and brooding over his being tortured despite being innocent. The village mayor Jaswant Singh and Nambardar Kundan Singh said that they had been spared the physical beating, but were abused and humiliated so badly by the SHO that they felt like committing suicide or dying at the hands of the Police. Police atrocities were Not confined to the menfolk, women and children were also treated in a similar manner. From 3:30 am to 9:30 am, for 6 hours police ruled the area.

The women said they were slapped cops. “Our children were snatch not tell them about Narain Singh. i was allowed to even feed her child,” wife Jasmeet Kaur and their two children, Jagjit 6 years) is hair raising. Both the children were police threatened to shoot them in front of the mother unless she cooperated with them. They said she would be treated like Gurdev n who were severely tortured). The whole village was searched and peoples belongings were strewn around. Narain Singh’s and his younger brother’s belongings were taken away by the police. The houses are empty even today. The next day on August 29 the police raided the village again. They picked up Wazir Singh s/o Bhan Singh, Avtar Singh s/o Kundan Singh Nambardar, Makhan Singh s/o Kabal Singh, who were working in the fields and tortured them mercilessly.

Police raided the village again on Aug 30 and picked up Balwinder Singh, a widower of 6 months, while he was sleeping with his children, leaving the children alone and crying.

Some young men have left the village because of the police atrocities. Women say that it would be better to die than to live this life of humiliation.