Mar
23
Recent Babbar Khalsa arrests
March 23, 2006 | Comments Off on Recent Babbar Khalsa arrests
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. Bheora was arrested in 1996 in connection with the assassination of Beant Singh, and he and two other men escaped from jail in January 2004.
On the same day, police also arrested Jasbir Singh and Bhupinder Singh for their alleged connection to Babbar Khalsa. Another set of arrests occurred that night; police reported that they arrested four Babbar Khalsa members for their alleged ties to Jagtar Singh Tara.
The police said one of the arrested persons is an employee of a Hindi newspaper working at Kurali. The police said the four arrested persons were working for Jagtar Singh Tara, prime suspect in the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
The four arrested men are: Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi alias Bullet of Model Town, Kurali, Balbir Singh alias Nepali of Kumharhati gurdwara, in district Solan, Dilbag Singh of Burja Wala, and Ranjit Singh of Santokhgarh in Ropar district.
However, the families of Jasbir Singh and Bhupinder Singh said that the men were falsely linked to Bheora by security agencies.
Ms Balwinder Kaur, mother of Jasbir,claimed that his [sic] son traded in milch cattle besides farming and had gone to Yamunanagar on a business trip on March 15. It was only yesterday that we came to know about his arrest from Delhi and his alleged terrorist links, the mother said pleading his [sic] son’s innocence.
A police party last week raided the homes of Jasbir and Bhupinder, but found nothing incriminating.
If they had any links with the BKI, then there must be some documents to show the links, Ms Shalinder Kaur, Bhupinder’s mother, added.
A village elder said on the condition of anonymity that both the boys had an unblemished record and never indulged in any suspicious activity.
On March 21, police picked up Bahadur Singh from his house in Thinda village, Hoshiarpur. Gian Chand witnessed the police party question Bahdur Singh about his relations with Babbar Khalsa, then take him into their vehicle. The next day, Gian Chand and others went to the police to ask about Bahadur Singh, but:
They were surprised when the police expressed its ignorance about the lifting of Bahadur Singh.
Read earlier blog posts on this case: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Fabricating Terrorism details human rights violations committed by Indian security forces in recent militancy-related arrests. From June 2005 to August 2005, Indian police claim to have arrested several dozen individuals intent on reviving or supporting militancy in Punjab, primarily through the Babbar Khalsa International. These arrests center on the apprehension of Jagtar Singh Hawara, the main accused in the 1995 assassination of Punjab’s chief minister. ENSAAF’s study of 28 cases of detention of Punjabis accused of militancy-related activities reveals that, in contravention of international and domestic laws, Indian security forces routinely resorted to illegal and incommunicado detention and that the Punjab police frequently tortured the detainees. These recent arrests point to a continuing pattern.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.