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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Punjab
The Dalits faced all forms of
discrimination from the denial of
minimum wages to the denial of entry into
temples, land grabbing and killings at the
hands of the upper castes. Often police
personnel are involved in the atrocities. On
3 August 2004, two Dalits identified as
Gurjant Singh and Harminder Singh were
killed and 15 others were injured when a
group of landlords opened indiscriminate
firing on a basti (settlement) of the Dalits
at Kamalpur village near Dirba in Sangrur
district following a quarrel among the
children of the Dalits and the landlords. 10
Children also faced illegal detention
and torture both at the hands of the police
and the school teachers who routinely
award corporal punishment. 11 Three minor
children - Sonia (13), Suman (12) and
Gagandeep (10), grandchildren of Atam
Prakash of Raikot in Ludhiana district
were allegedly detained illegally and
treated inhumanly at Chheharta police
station in Amritsar on 5 and 6 July 2004.
Subsequent inquiries by the police found
the allegations to be true.
II. Human rights violations by law
enforcement personnel
i. Past crimes: Disappearances
On 11 November 2004, National
Human Rights Commission ordered the
Punjab Government to pay compensation
of Rs 2.72 crores to the kin of 109 persons
who had died in custody of the police
during the counter insurgency operations
in the 1980s and the early 1990s. Giving
its verdict on a batch of petitions referred
to it by the Supreme Court for deciding the
compensation issue, the NHRC said 25
victims were detected by the CBI in
Amritsar district, 54 in Majitha and 30 in
Tarn Taran. 12 The NHRC however,
declined to bring in its ambit all the
“police killings” for inquiry and making
public various CBI status reports
regarding 2,097 cases referred to it by the
Supreme Court for deciding the
compensation aspect. 13
The Supreme Court after examining
the report submitted by Central Bureau of
Investigation into the enforced
disappearances stated that “The report
indicates that 585 dead bodies were fully
identified, 274 partially identified and
1238 unidentified. Needless to say that the
report discloses flagrant violation of
human rights on a mass scale”.
Hundreds of victims continue to be
denied access of justice. Jagraj Singh, s/o
Mohinder Singh, a resident of Mohali, was
allegedly picked up by the police from
Mohali in Ropar district on 14 January
1995 but shown by police to have been
killed in an encounter. In a telegram
message to the High Court, Mohinder
Singh had complained about the killing of
his son, on the basis of which the Court
issued notice to the Punjab police. But the
authorities denied the allegations.
Subsequently, the High Court had handed
over the matter to the CBI and a case of
kidnapping was registered. The CBI had
filed an untraced report, saying the
deceased was not arrested but killed in an
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