annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Punjab
making public various reports of inquiries
by Central Bureau of Investigation
regarding 2,097 cases referred to it by the
Supreme Court for deciding the
compensation aspect. 1 The perpetrators
responsible for disappearance of human
rights activist, Jaswant Singh Kalra
remained at large.
Although, Punjab has not been facing
an internal armed conflict at present,
Punjab Police personnel were responsible
for gross and widespread human rights
violations including arbitrary deprivation
of the right to life, enforced disappearance,
arbitrary detention, torture etc.
Punjab continued to witness large
number of custodial deaths - both in
judicial and police custody as a result of
torture. The Punjab State Human Rights
Commission (PSHRC) registered 87 cases
of custodial deaths from 1 January to 30
November 2004. 2 On 10 June 2004, Jaspal
Singh, a farmer of border village Dhunna
in Amritsar district was killed at Kalra
Police station of Tarn Taran district. 3
Torture is endemic and a part of the
administration of justice. The Punjab
Police and the Punjab Vigilance Bureau
personnel allegedly harassed the family
members of Jaskaran Singh, whose
petition in the Punjab and Haryana High
Court led to the quashing of illegal
selection of seven Deputy Superintendent
of Police (DSP), including sons of the
Chief Minister’s media advisor B I S
Chahal and Ferozepur Senior
Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harinder
Singh Chahal, on 15 October 2004. 4
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Earlier on 8 October 2004, the Vigilance
Department registered a false case at
Ferozepur, accusing Kheta Singh, the 68year-old
father and a brother of Jaskaran
Singh of helping a woman get old-age
pension of Rs 200 a month though her
husband allegedly owned eight acres land.
Vigilance department arrested both and
detained them illegally for 10 days. 5 The
only action taken by the state government
was the transfer of Ferozepur Vigilance
SP, Inderjit Singh Randhawa on 25
October 2004. This is despite the fact that
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh himself
regretted the arrest of Kheta Singh. 6
Prisons in Punjab have virtually
turned into chambers of torture. Undertrial
Rocky of Amritsar Central Security Jail
was tattooed “Yeh Chor Hai” (this one is a
thief) on the night of 30 June 2004 for
demanding food according to the jail
manual. A deputy Superintendent and a jail
doctor of Jalandar Central Jail inscribed
“choorraa” 7 (lower caste) on the back of
another under-trial and a Dalit, Malkiat
Singh on the night of 2 July 2004 for
demanding medical treatment. Relatives of
ailing inmates needed to bribe the medical
staff of the jails to get their kin referred to
civil hospital for proper medical
treatment. 8
Women continued to face violence.
Rano of Bhattian village in Patiala district
allegedly became a victim of “honour
killings” for eloping with a boy from
another community. 9 The family members,
especially women of the migrant workers,
faced sexual assault and harassment.