Oct
27
Punjab Government Reinforces Impunity for Perpetrators of Extrajudicial Executions
October 27, 2005 | Comments Off on Punjab Government Reinforces Impunity for Perpetrators of Extrajudicial Executions
There have been several interesting updates regarding cases implicating the systematic abuses committed by Punjab police during their counter-insurgency operations of 1984 to 1995.
This last month saw two blatant examples of impunity for perpetrators of abuses. The Punjab governor pardoned two police officers convicted of extrajudicial executions:
This is the first time ever that a Punjab Governor has pardoned any police official of the state, sources said.
Sawaran Das was convicted to life imprisonment for the abduction and murder of the brother of a terrorist from Jalandhar while he was posted as Inspector with the CIA staff in Hoshiarpur. For the past six years, he is serving his sentence at Hoshiarpur during which time he retired from the force as DSP.
Jaspal Singh, a decorated officer, was convicted to seven years’ imprisonment for kidnapping Amrik Singh, keeping him in illegal custody and causing his death while he was posted as Patra SHO.
Another police officer charged in 3 disappearance cases was brought back from retirement and promoted to the Indian police service:
Superintendent of Police Sukhmohinder Singh’s case is unique, even by Punjab Government standards.
Last year, almost three weeks after he retired, the Punjab Government brought him back into service, gave him extension for one year and has, finally, when his extended tenure was about to end, inducted him into the IPS, thereby giving him one more year in service.
Incidentally, Mr Sukhmohinder Singh is one of the three police officers against whom a charge-sheet has been filed in the Special CBI court at Ambala in the case of mysterious disappearance of three Ludhiana-based brothers.
Punjab IGP Sumedh Singh Saini is also an accused in the same case, which was investigated by the CBI. Mr Saini, Mr Sukhmohinder Singh and another policeman are alleged to have had a hand in the sudden disappearance of the brothers, owners of Saini Motors, Ludhiana, with whom Mr Saini allegedly had a family dispute. Neither the brothers nor their bodies have been found so far….
Legal experts say the extension was in clear violation of Rule 3.26 of Punjab Civil Service Rules, which says that a government employee who attains the age of retirement on attaining the age of 58 years must not be retained in service except in exceptional circumstances. The clause also says that the sanction of the competent authority must be taken in such case and the authority must grant sanction only on public grounds, which must be recorded in writing.
In other news, on October 8, after fighting a 15-year long legal battle, one family received a paltry 1.88 (about $4700) lakh in compensation for the extrajudicial execution of their son:
Bharpur Singh, son of Naib Subedar (retd) Gurdeep Singh, resident of Chahal village of this district was shot dead on December27, 1990, near Khukhrana village on the Moga- Talwandi road.
The Deputy Commissioner Faridkot, Mr Jagpal Singh Sandhu, holding the police guilty recommended help to the agrieved father… Failing to get any response from the state government on the issue, Ms Ajmer Kaur, wife of Mr Gurdeep Singh, and mother of the deceased filed a suit of recovery of damages in the court of a civil judge here.The civil judge on July 25, 2003, ordered the Punjab Government to pay a compensation of Rs 2.50 lakh alongwith 12 percent interest from the date of the registeration of the case to the aggrieved party.
The District Judge upheld this decision.
Reports of harassment and beatings in police custody continued to surface.
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