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