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
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Punjab<br />
Lambi police station in Muktsar district,<br />
was allegedly paraded in the village<br />
market after blackening his face and<br />
putting a garland of shoes around his neck<br />
by Gurcharan Singh, Chinder Singh and<br />
Jagtar Singh of the same village. He was<br />
earlier beaten up mercilessly <strong>for</strong> refusing<br />
to work in their farms without payment of<br />
wages. The police arrested the accused. 63<br />
Upon his release on bail, accused<br />
Gurcharan Singh allegedly threatened<br />
Jagir Singh with life if he did not withdraw<br />
the complaint and enter into a<br />
compromise. 64<br />
At Lehri village under Talwandi Sabo<br />
in Bathinda district, the police allegedly<br />
<strong>for</strong>cibly evicted a Dalit family on 9 June<br />
2004 from their house in a colony set up<br />
under the landless labour scheme by the<br />
government. Sarbjit Kaur, a member of the<br />
Dalit family, alleged that some policemen<br />
came and threw all their belongings out of<br />
the house in absence of any male member<br />
and then facilitated the illegal possession<br />
of the house by some residents of the<br />
village, <strong>report</strong>edly close to Akali leaders of<br />
the area. The Dalit family had to spend the<br />
whole night in the open. The police<br />
allegedly beat up two of her kin and later<br />
picked them up. The police also raided the<br />
house of a landlord at Manua Ke village,<br />
where Buta Singh, her husband, was<br />
working as a farm assistant. Her husband<br />
and her father-in-law Roop Singh had to<br />
remain in hiding fearing police<br />
harassment. 65<br />
On 3 August 2004, two Dalits<br />
identified as Gurjant Singh and Harminder<br />
208<br />
Singh were killed and 15 other injured<br />
when a group of landlords opened<br />
indiscriminate firing on a basti<br />
(settlement) of the Dalits at Kamalpur<br />
village near Dirba in Sangrur district<br />
following a quarrel among the children of<br />
the Dalits and landlords. Ten persons<br />
belonging to the landlords were arrested<br />
on 7 August 2004. The police <strong>report</strong>edly<br />
recovered two rifles allegedly used in the<br />
firing. 66<br />
On 23 November 2004, police<br />
officials of Sujanpur allegedly detained<br />
illegally and beat up a physically<br />
challenged Dalit youth, Pawan Kumar of<br />
Gosainpur village in Gurdaspur district at<br />
the behest of politically influential people<br />
with whom Pawan’s family had a dispute<br />
over an adjoining wall. Pawan Kumar<br />
alleged that sons of one Kuldeep Singh,<br />
father-in-law of the village Sarpanch came<br />
to his tailoring shop and started beating<br />
him up. The police was called but the<br />
policemen instead of protecting him<br />
thrashed and detained him in the police<br />
station under the charge of quarrelling.<br />
Former BJP minister Satpal Saini later<br />
rescued him from police custody. 67<br />
On 6 December 2004, the committee<br />
members of Gurdwara Sahib Chardi Kala<br />
allegedly did not allow the marriage of<br />
Kamaljeet Kaur, daughter of the Sarpanch<br />
of Bahona village in Moga district at the<br />
local Gurdwara. The committee members,<br />
led by their chief, Rajinder Pal Singh,<br />
stopped the marriage party of the groom<br />
from Galoti village from entering the<br />
Gurudwara Sahib Chardi Kala. 68