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NHRC PUBLISHES NOTICE SOLICITING CLAIMS FROM SURVIVORS OF DISAPPEARANCES/KILLINGS
July 20, 2004 | Comments Off on NHRC PUBLISHES NOTICE SOLICITING CLAIMS FROM SURVIVORS OF DISAPPEARANCES/KILLINGS
Newspapers throughout Punjab have published a notice soliciting claims from survivors of disappearances perpetrated by the Punjab police during the police counterinsurgency movement. At the March 17 hearing of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the Punjab illegal cremations matter, the Commission had ordered the Punjab government to solicit affidavits from victim families. The notice was to include the names of the victims identified by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Committee for Information and Initiative on Punjab (CIIP), but also ask for affidavits from other survivors of disappearance/killing perpetrated by Punjab’s security forces whose families did not know where the bodies had been cremated.
Yesterday, after months of delay, the Punjab government finally published the notice:
Roor Singh wept as he clutched the newspaper with the name of his son Tejinder Singh neatly underlined. ‘‘It was in a midnight swoop on our house at Throo village that the Bhikiwind police picked up my younger son Tejinder, who was only 23. We asked them to tell us why but that only prompted them to give us all a hiding,’’ he says. About 10 days later, they read in a language daily that Tejinder, a ‘militant’, had been killed in an encounter. ‘‘But we never received his body, so how could we believe the report,’’ says Roor Singh.
After today’s ad, he believes it. But more important to him is the prospect of justice, the line that reads: ‘‘If, as a result of enquiry, it is found that these… bodies were cremated without following the lawful procedure or that there has been any other violation of human rights in relation to such deceased person, the Commission may… consider grant of compensation.’’ For Roor, more than compensation, it’s a chance to prove his son’s innocence.
The Association of Families of the Disappeared in Punjab (AFDP) is coordinating the filling of affidavits from survivors.
The Punjab Justice website has summaries of the latest NHRC hearings. Read the full order from the last hearing.
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