Human Rights in Punjab

ENSAAF has released the March 2006 issue of its quarterly Dispatch, available at: http://www.ensaaf.org/dispatch-march06.pdf

The Dispatch contains articles on:
*The murder of human rights defender Jaswant Singh Khalra: A summary of the November 2005 order (The complete order and a more extensive analysis can be read at
http://www.ensaaf.org/khalra.html)
*Arbitrary detention of Sikh author Ajmer Singh
*Department of State releases 2005 […]

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has ordered the Punjab government to pay Rs 2.5 lakh in compensation to each of 38 people whose relatives died in custody and were illegally creamted by the police. This NHRC order increases the toal number of people awarded compensation to 148; at least 2,097 people in Amritsar district […]

The Punjab government is preparing a proposal for a law to protect police officers and militants who cooperated with them from prosecution. Finance Minister Surinder Singla said on March 21 that Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh would soon announce the procedure to protect officers who used extra-judicial methods in the name of countering terrorism.

The FM […]

A female superintendent reported that she was beaten by a police officer when she opposed copying at the examination center of a government senior secondary school in Amritsar. The Government Teachers’ Union has complained that the Education Department and the police department have not taken any action against the accused police officer.

Mr Daljit Singh, […]

Police have recently arrested several people allegedly in connection with the assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, and at least one of the arrests may be a case of illegal detention.
Paramjit Singh Bheora, head of Babbar Khalsa and one of three accused of the assassination of Beant Singh, was arrested on March 19. […]

The Indian government continues to deny justice to the victims of the 1984 pogroms of Sikhs. On March 9, Punjab police used water canons to disperse victims protesting the Punjab Deputy Commissioners’ failure to give relief payments to the victims, despite orders by the central government. Nearly a dozen protesters had to be taken to […]

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi has filed a petition with the High Court to prevent the Punjab government and police from disclosing information about him and others who were falsely declared dead by the police. Director-general of Punjab police SS Virk had recently revealed that during the counter-insurgency, Sukhi and other militants who helped the police were […]

The Supreme Court has reversed the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s earlier decision that Sukhmohinder Singh could be promoted to the Indian Police Service (IPS) even though he was charged in a criminal case.
Although Sukhmohinder Singh had retired in 2004, and has also been charged in three disappearance cases from over ten years ago, […]

The US Department of State has released its 2005 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for India. In the report, the Department of State cites numerous human rights abuses that occur in India, including: extrajudicial killings, torture and rape by police and security forces, and prolonged detention. It also states its findings regarding developments in […]

1,459 victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms have applied for government compensation of Rs 2 lakh. Earlier this year, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had ordered the government to pay the compensation by April 30. Deputy Commissioner Garewal said that after verification, all the cases would be sent to the Financial Commissioner of Punjab by […]