Human Rights in Punjab

On December 23, 2006, Jalandhar and Ropar police officials arrested three Sikhs, Amolak Singh, Jasvinder Singh, and Parmjeet Singh Dhadi, on suspicion of planning terrorist activities to disrupt next year’s assembly elections in Punjab.  Mr. Dhadi, a UK citizen, claims to have been tortured in Jalandhar police custody. They have since been transferred to the high-security Nabha Jail in Punjab. 

The circumstances and reasons for the arrests are being challenged by attorneys for the three accused. Punjab police assert that explosives were recovered from the three. They also claim that ammunition was recovered from a straw heap on Dhadi’s farm in the village of Gakhal. However, the Sarpanch (village leader) claims that police never came to the village before making their assertion.

Family members of Mr. Dhadi allege that police beat him with sticks, stretched his legs, and forcibly removed his articles of faith. They also state that he was forced to sign a confessional statement.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 12th, 2007 at 8:35 pm and is filed under Punjab. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments.