WSN service
CHANDIGARH: Indian security forces continued a relentless repression in Punjab with numerous new instances coming to the fore.
According to R.S.Cheema vice president of Punjab circle of the All India Telecom Union six-seven cops entered the exchange forcibly after a policeman in Sadar station failed to get connected to a number as one telephone board was out of order and was being tested. When one of the two operators contacted the police station through the second board and offered help to the police the latter sent its men to the exchange to teach the operators a lesson. The police manhandled two operators Jasbir Singh and Baldev Singh. Jasbir was actually taken away to the police station and tortured the whole night and was released in the morning.
The employees said they resorted to the strike only after they failed to get justice from any authority.
The employees demanded the transfer and suspension of the policemen concemed.
Security men on patrol duty at Chandigarh on August 21 shot dead Raj Kumar a Hindu businessman of Karnal when he failed to stop as he was so signaled. The police said they asked Raj Kumar to stop but he sped away in his car. He was then followed and fired at. He was killed. The police later claimed to have recovered a revolver from the car.
According to a report from Rohtak Urmila Kumari widow of Raj Kumar said that her husband had gone to Chandigarh on Saturday and was on his way back when the police shot him dead. She said her husband was not involved in any crime and that the police had fabricated the story of the encounter and the alleged possession of a revolver by her husband.
Although in this case the person killed was a Hindu the Hindu media did not care to investigate the incident. Instead both Tribune and Indian Express played down the murder. The newspapers also played down the widow’s claim of innocence of her husband.
A Chandigarh-based human rights group reported that the police had detained one Surinder Singh Fauji of Fatehabad when he went to the Goindwal police station to meet one of his relations His house was searched but nothing incriminating was found. The Mansa police detained on May 231991 one Wazir Singh son of Amrik Singh Babbar. He was picked up by the police from his village Khara. Similarly the Mansa police picked up Darshan Singh son of Wazir Singh from Bihari village on July 7. Jaurkian police picked up on the same day one Tikka Singh son of Muktiar Singh from Lehri village. Hamir Singh son of Mukhtiar Singh was picked up on May 23 and Ghukar Singh son of Hamir Singh was also picked up the same day. All these Sikhs have not been released so far now have they been produced in any court by the police.
Bhai Kartar Singh Narang convener of Babbar Akali Dal along with several human rights activists in a memorandum to Punjab Governor Surinder Nath pleaded with him to give up oppressive policy of his predecessors. Otherwise he too would go the Ray Ribeiro way. The signatories specifically brought to the notice of the Governor the killing of a Chandigarh police constable in police custody and the arrest of R.P.Singh a member of the Babbar Akali Dal ad hoc committee He was picked up by the Chandigarh police from his Mohali residence. Narang and others demanded immediate release of R.P.Singh.
The Joint Action Committee of Punjab Government employees expressed resentment at the manhandling of its leader Sajjan Singh by certain Chandigarh policemen in plain clothes. In a Statement the JAC said that the incident took place at Khanpur village near Kharar on the evening of August 23 when the police in Plainclothes raided the village in search of a militant. They took in custody the 16-yr-old sister of the militant as well as his mother besides a clerk working in Patiala DC’s office. These arrests took place even after the mother had publicly declared that the family had nothing to do with her militant son. When Sajjan Singh wanted to ascertain the position he too was beaten up. The JAC condemned the police for crossing all limits of repression and terror and asked the Governor to order a judicial enquiry into the incident. The JAC also gave a call for public rallies against the police repression.
The Akali Dal (Mann) alleged that Punjab police and security forces were implicating leaders of the group as well as those of the AISSF (Manjit) to make them ineligible to contesting elections in terms of the proposed amendment to the Representation of Peoples Act. Bhai Ram Singh a general secretary of the party presented to newsmen Bhai Palwinder Singh Sangha a Dal(M) candidate from Tam Taran. He could not walk as he was tortured by the CRPF at Khem Karn on August 15 after he was arrested a few days earlier. Bhai Balwinder Singh is the brother of Bhai Sukhwinder Singh Sangha who died at the hands of the police a few weeks ago.
Badal Akali Dal youth wing President Prem Singh Chandumajra in a statement at Ludhiana said that the proposed mass action against police repression in Punjab should be started immediately. He said the Sikh youths were being killed in fake encounters while women were being taken to police stations and harassed.
A large number of sarpanches and panches of Rampura Phul in a memorandum submitted to the Bathinda deputy commissioner alleged that sub-inspector Aril Sharma and two head constables of Chowk police post went to Joond village in plain clothes and attempted to pick up two village youths and took away one of them who was later released. When the village leaders objected the policemen misbehaved with them. ‘The villager leaders later held a demonstration in front of the police station.
The people of Baghapurana in Faridkot district observed a complete strike on August 20 to protest against the police lathi-charge and firing of plastic bullets on a rally taken out to protest against the police failure to recover a girl abducted by certain anti-social elements. Meanwhile Sathi Roop Lal a Janata Dal leader broke his fast following an assurance by the district administration that all out efforts would be made to recover the abducted girl.
Former Central Minister Dhanna Singh Gulshan’s son Gurbachan Singh was arrested by the Bathinda police from his Rampura Phul residence for giving shelter to militants. Gurbachan Singh is also the AISSF (Manjit) candidate from Pakka Kalan Assembly constituency and is the fourth candidate to have been arrested in the district.
The Indore police arrested six Sikhs Baldev Singh Kewal Singh Harjit Singh Sada Singh Darshan Singh and Mohinder Singh for giving shelter to Bhai Madha Singh a leading militant who was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police last week. Meanwhile militants abducted half a dozen relations of top police officers of Punjab and Bombay to force the Madhya Pradesh government to release Bhai Madha Singh. The Madhya Pradesh government gave tremendous importance
to the arrest of Bhai Madha Singh. The BJP Chief Minister himself went to Indore to announce Bhai Madha Singh’s arrest.
Bhai Jagmohan Singh advocate of Khanna leading human rights activist was arrested by the Ludhiana police last week. Advocates of Ludhiana observed a strike on August 22 to protest against Bhai Jagmohan Singh’s detention.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 30, 1991
