JALANDHAR: Families of four youths killed in the 1986 Nakodar police firing claimed on Tuesday that Punjab CM Amarinder Singh and Jalandhar MP Santokh Singh had promised them justice during the 2019 parliamentary polls, but did little to ensure it in the past year.
The families, flanked by human rights activists and members of Sikh groups, made the statement on the 34th anniversary of the incident in which policemen had fired at people protesting against the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in a gurdwara of Nakodar. Addressing a press conference here, firing victim Ravinder Singh’s father Baldev Singh, flanked by sisters of the other three victims, said former CM Parkash Singh Badal protected officers responsible for the firing and now CM Amarinder Singh’s government was denying them justice. “There are striking similarities between Bargari sacrilege-Behbal Kalan police firing case and the Nakodar case. In 1986 too, students were peacefully protesting after burning of Birs of Guru Granth Sahib in a gurdwara. In both cases, justice is being denied,” he said.
Baldev said the Congress would meet the same political fate like that of Badals’ if it did not deliver justice in the case.
Baldev said after former MLA H S Phoolka and Kharar legislator Kanwar Sandhu raised the issue in the Punjab assembly last year, sleuths of state intelligence department approached him to talk about compensation. “I told them to arrange a meeting with the CM, so that I could tell him how the four young Sikhs were gunned down. One them was killed in police custody. Police had even refused to give their bodies for cremation,” he said.
He said they could procure one part of the Justice Gurnam Singh Commission’s report, which was formed by the then Surjit Singh Barnala government to probe the incident, but the second part of the report had gone missing.
He said the second part contained affidavits and statements of witnesses which incriminated police officers. “It is not available in Punjab assembly records. We have been chasing other files related to the case too, but crucial records have gone missing. Punjab government should order a time-bound probe to prosecute officers and find out how the second part of the probe could go missing,” he said.
Advocate Satnam Singh Bains, who has been working on Punjab Documentation and Advocacy Project, said when reports of even the British period were available in records or archives, it was difficult to understand how reports and records of 1986 could go missing. “Even General Dyer faced court martial. But, in this case, Punjab Police officers were allowed to go scot-free, even as they killed four youths in firing without any provocation. The British government gave compensation to the victims of Jallianwala Bagh,” he said. “In this case also, state government should announce a compensation and order a time-bound probe,” he added.
Paramjit Kaur Khalra and other activists of Khalra Mission Organisation, Punjab Human Rights Organisation general secretary Gurbachan Singh, and Alliance of Sikh Organisations leader Sukhdev Singh were also present at the conference.
Demonstrations for justice
Student bodies Sikh Youth of Punjab and Sath held demonstrations outside Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, where victims of 1986 police firing were studying. They said the CM should either honour his promise or quit. They also gave a memorandum to the Khalsa College management, demanding that two blocks of the college be renamed after victims Harminder Singh and Baldhir Singh. They said the blocks were named after the two, but the names were removed during renovation.
The families, flanked by human rights activists and members of Sikh groups, made the statement on the 34th anniversary of the incident in which policemen had fired at people protesting against the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in a gurdwara of Nakodar. Addressing a press conference here, firing victim Ravinder Singh’s father Baldev Singh, flanked by sisters of the other three victims, said former CM Parkash Singh Badal protected officers responsible for the firing and now CM Amarinder Singh’s government was denying them justice. “There are striking similarities between Bargari sacrilege-Behbal Kalan police firing case and the Nakodar case. In 1986 too, students were peacefully protesting after burning of Birs of Guru Granth Sahib in a gurdwara. In both cases, justice is being denied,” he said.
Baldev said the Congress would meet the same political fate like that of Badals’ if it did not deliver justice in the case.
Baldev said after former MLA H S Phoolka and Kharar legislator Kanwar Sandhu raised the issue in the Punjab assembly last year, sleuths of state intelligence department approached him to talk about compensation. “I told them to arrange a meeting with the CM, so that I could tell him how the four young Sikhs were gunned down. One them was killed in police custody. Police had even refused to give their bodies for cremation,” he said.
He said they could procure one part of the Justice Gurnam Singh Commission’s report, which was formed by the then Surjit Singh Barnala government to probe the incident, but the second part of the report had gone missing.
He said the second part contained affidavits and statements of witnesses which incriminated police officers. “It is not available in Punjab assembly records. We have been chasing other files related to the case too, but crucial records have gone missing. Punjab government should order a time-bound probe to prosecute officers and find out how the second part of the probe could go missing,” he said.
Advocate Satnam Singh Bains, who has been working on Punjab Documentation and Advocacy Project, said when reports of even the British period were available in records or archives, it was difficult to understand how reports and records of 1986 could go missing. “Even General Dyer faced court martial. But, in this case, Punjab Police officers were allowed to go scot-free, even as they killed four youths in firing without any provocation. The British government gave compensation to the victims of Jallianwala Bagh,” he said. “In this case also, state government should announce a compensation and order a time-bound probe,” he added.
Paramjit Kaur Khalra and other activists of Khalra Mission Organisation, Punjab Human Rights Organisation general secretary Gurbachan Singh, and Alliance of Sikh Organisations leader Sukhdev Singh were also present at the conference.
Demonstrations for justice
Student bodies Sikh Youth of Punjab and Sath held demonstrations outside Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, where victims of 1986 police firing were studying. They said the CM should either honour his promise or quit. They also gave a memorandum to the Khalsa College management, demanding that two blocks of the college be renamed after victims Harminder Singh and Baldhir Singh. They said the blocks were named after the two, but the names were removed during renovation.
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