Ghosts of Punjab's dark era haunt families of victims

Deccan Herald
July 24, 2004

Ghosts of Punjab's dark era haunt families of victims
The then police chief of Punjab, K P S Gill, had even made a statement that the missing men had fled to foreign and had not been killed by the police.
CHANDIGARH, DHNS:

The ghosts of a particularly dark era in Punjab’s fight against terrorism during the decade of 1984-1994 have come back to haunt the families of the victims who had died not by terrorists’ bullets but due to police excesses.

Eight years after the Supreme Court remitted the matter of disappearances and illegal cremation of 2,097 ‘unclaimed’ bodies during 1984-1994 in Punjab to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Commission has begun the task of identifying the victims. A faint hope of justice is flickering for the families of the victims of this grotesque chapter of militant activity in Punjab. The NHRC has issued a public notice seeking claims for compensation from the next of kin of the 2,097 victims of whom the identity of only 693 has been established so far.

The NHRC has been conducting an inquiry into the circumstances leading to the cremation by the Punjab police of 2097 bodies as “unclaimed/unidentified” in the police districts of Amritsar, Majitha and Tarn Taran. The NHRC is inquiring into all incidents referred to as ‘extra judicial eliminations, involuntary disappearances, fake encounters, abductions and killings’ leading to cremation of 2097 bodies as ‘unclaimed’.

CBI report
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had submitted its final report to the apex court on December 10, 1996 identifying 2097 illegal cremations in three police districts of Punjab. The matter was then remitted to the NHRC to examine whether or not there had been any other violation of human rights in relation to the deceased persons and to determine compensation to be paid to the families of the victims. It had also asked the CBI to investigate, register cases and establish culpability of the accused police officers.

The whole episode was brought to light by a human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Khalra when he released some official documents in January 1995, claiming that security forces in Punjab had been secretly cremating thousands of bodies labelled as unclaimed. Khalra suggested that these cremations were of people who had been picked up illegally by the Punjab police for interrogation about their links with the separatist movement in the state during 1984-1994.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed Khalra’s petition the same year questioning his locus standii in the matter.

Mysterious disappearance
Khalra then mysteriously disappeared and his wife, Paramjit Kaur approached the Supreme Court through an NGO called ‘Committee for Information and Initiatives on Punjab’. The petition sought production of Khalra and also direction for initiation of punitive action against officers responsible for a large number of illegal cremations in Punjab.

The petition was strengthened with a retired army official Baldev Singh submitting an affidavit stating that his 25-year-old son, Pargat Singh, had been killed in a fake encounter. Pargar, who ran a dairy farm had been picked up by the police when he was watching a movie in an Amritsar cinema hall and on November 5,1992. Newspapers reported details of a supposed encounter in which he was killed.

Baldev Singh reached the cremation grounds when police personnel were cremating his son’s body. He identified his son’s half burnt body. Baldev saw to it that his son’s abduction and illegal cremation did not remain unacknowledged. After receiving his affidavit, the Supreme Court admitted the petition.
Meanwhile, Khalra’s body was found in a canal. He had abducted by some Punjab police commandos on September 6,1995 . A case was registered against nine police officers, including a former Senior Superintendent of Police of Tarn Taran police district. While the SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu committed suicide by throwing himself before a train, the remaining eight are cooling their heals in jail.

Today, Khalra’s wife can take some solace from the NHRC initiating steps to award compensation to the families of the victims. “It is a historic leap towards justice for Khalra’s struggle. The NHRC’s notice makes a mockery of the reported statement of the then police chief (K P S Gill) that the missing boys had fled to foreign countries and that the police did not kill them,” she said.

The co-ordinator of the Association of the Families of Deceased in Punjab, Amrk Singh, who is fighting for compensation and justice to the affected families demanded that each family get atleast Rs 10 lakh as compensation. “Though a belated move, we welcome it and urge the SC and the NHRC to punish the guilty cops besides compensating the families,” he said.