The brutal torture methods and inhuman third degree torture given by Punjab Police to the common man has been a subject of great concern for every law abiding citizen in the State.

There is a long list of incidents where Punjab police had beaten to death many innocent persons during interrogation in the torture chambers of the police stations. But neither the State government nor the Police authorities have responded aptly at this increasing tendency of using inhuman third degree methods by their forces and have awfully failed to take any action against the erring cops. The case of gruesome custodial death of Jaspal Singh, a youth of village Saheri, P.S. Morinda, Distt.Ropar in Punjab on the intervening night of 6th-7th February, 2001 by Policemen of P.S. Morinda, Distt.Ropar has once again established the fact that Police force in Punjab has gone berserk and is using third degree methods upon every person legally or illegally picked up by them and the situation in the State has become so worse that the common man is feeling highly insecured and prone to police brutality. State of Punjab appears to have become a Police Raj. There is a total lack of Control by State administration over Police machinery and every organ of the State is mocking at the extra-judicial and barbaric torture techniques of Punjab police, at the cost of the common man, who is the ultimate victim.

On 7th February, 2001 there was a road blockade on the Morinda-Ludhiana main road since Morning. Thousands of people had gathered outside the Police Station Morinda in protest against the custodial death of a dalit/ scheduled Caste boy of village Saheri, Distt.Ropar. The news spread like a wild fire across the region and a telephonic information was received in the headquarters of our body in the evening. The same day, a team of Lawyers For Human Rights International, comprising of Mr. Arunjeev Singh Walia, Mr. Ravinder Singh Bassi, Mr. O.P.Dabla, Mr. Arvind Sandhu, Mr.Kulbir Singh Bains, Mr. Anil Kaushik, Mr. Bhupinder Singh, Mr. Tejinder Singh Sudan and a social activist Mr.Shashi Sharma of Jalandhar went to Morinda on a fact finding visit and conducted detailed investigation into the whole incident.

Village Saheri, a small village of Kharar tehsil in Distt.Ropar, where the victim lived is just few kilometers away from Morinda. It is a thinly populated area with small houses. Most of the people living in this area are poor alike the victim’s father. The area is a very peaceful rural area and has remained crime-free since long.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF VICTIM

Jaspal Singh alias Kala, son of Surmukh Singh, aged 17 years, resident of Village Saheri,P.S.Morinda, Distt.Ropar. Occupation: He was working as a worker in a tent house in Morinda and was the breadearner of the family. Family-He has one sister and one brother, besides his parents in the house. Sister is un-married and brother is deaf and dumb minor. Education- 9th Pass Marital Status- Un-married (Deceased)

WITNESSES EXAMINED

1. Surmukh Singh, father of the deceased
2. Surinder Kaur, mother of the deceased
3. Dallan Singh, maternal grand father of the deceased
4. Bibi Harbhajan Kaur, Head of Village Gurdwara in Vill. Saheri, Distt. Ropar.

PLACES VISITED

1. Place of incident ( Police Station Morinda)
2. Civil Hospital, Ropar – mortuary

NAMES AND PARTICULARS OF ACCUSED PERSONS

1. Sub-Inspector Tarlochan Singh, S.H.O. Police Station, Morinda.
2. Constable Manoj Kumar, P.S. Morinda
3. Head Constable Shingara Singh, P.S. Morinda
4. Gurmeet Singh, father of Charanjit Singh, Jat Sikh of village. Saheri.
5. Jagtar Singh, Sarpanch of Village Saheri.
6. Surjit Singh, of village Saheri
7. Nirmal Singh of village Saheri
8. Billu, husband of sister-in-law of Sub-Inspector Tarlochan Singh, S.H.O. P.S. Morinda, resident of Village Saheri

FACTS

Jaspal Singh, son of Surmukh Singh, aged 17 years is the elder son of Surmukh Singh. He belongs to Harijan caste (schedule Caste) and worked as a helper in a tent house in Morinda. He had no criminal record or tendency to become violent. On 6th February, 2001 there was an alleged fight between Jaspal and another young boy of the same village, named Charanjit Singh, son of Gurmeet Singh who belongs to Jat Sikh caste in which Charanjit received few minor injuries. Feeling agitated, Gurmeet Singh, whose friend Billu of the same village had a close relation with the Station House Officer of P.S. Morinda, namely Tarlochan Singh demanded that Jaspal be taught a lesson for beating the son of a Jat Sikh landlord of the village Saheri. The S.H.O. firstly sent his two policemen to the house of Jaspal on 6th February,2001 in the evening to bring Jaspal, but he was not at home. Later on, two other policemen in uniform in a two-wheeler scooter accompanied by Gurmeet Singh and Billu on another scooter again came to the house of Jaspal Singh at about 9.30 P.M. and forcibly picked him up in the presence of his father Surmukh Singh and grandfather Dallan Singh. When Surmukh Singh tried to resist the forcible act of the policemen, he was also injured on his right eye-brow by the policemen. While taking away Jaspal Singh, the policemen told his parents that he is being taken to Police Station Morinda. When Jaspal Singh had been forcibly made to sit in the middle of the two policemen on the scooter, he was being beaten up and he was crying loud and high. Surprisingly, in utter violation of Supreme Court guidelines in case of arrest, no arrest memo was prepared by the police party nor any signatures of the parents of the detenu were obtained by the police men.

The father of the victim was so traumatised and shocked that he could not think of acting immediately till 4 a.m. on 7th February, 2001, when he alongwith his father-in-law Dallan Singh went out of his house in search of his son. When they had reached near the turning of Bangian village, a Police gypsy came near him and stopped. He saw the S.H.O. of Police Station Morinda on the driving seat, Sarpanch Jagtar Singh and Billu in the vehicle. The S.H.O. Tarlochan Singh, asked Surmukh Singh to sit in the gypsy so that they may go to the house of Paramjit Singh of the same village. On reaching the house of Paramjit Singh another Jat Sikh resident of the same village, Surmukh Singh was told that his son Jaspal Singh has died and is in Police Station Morinda. The S.H.O. tried to forcibly take him to some place on the pretext of preparing papers with regard to the delivery of dead body of Jaspal Singh, but Surmukh Singh raised the alarm and compelled the S.H.O. and his accomplices to leave the place. It was at 6 a.m. The whole village was informed about this tragedy and one head of the village Gurdwara Bibi Harbhajan Kaur organised the villagers and a large gathering of residents of Saheri and adjoining villages as also of Morinda thronged the Police Station Morinda at about 10 a.m. on 7th February,2001. When the villagers were not shown or told about the state of health of Jaspal Singh, victim or his well being by the Police authorities they got furious and raised anti-police and anti-administration slogans. Someone from inside the police station raised a lalkara(threatening) and provoked at this unlawful act, the mob turned violent and started pelting stones at the policemen inside the Police Station, Morinda, but nobody was hurt. The villagers laid a 15 hour seize to the Police Station, Morinda and also blocked the Morinda-Ludhiana highway begining 10 a.m. till 11.30 P.M. in the night.

POLICE VERSION

According to Police, Jaspal Singh was booked for apprehension of breach of peace under Section 107/151 Cr.P.C. When he was brought to the Police Station and was being questioned, his health deteriorated and he became unconscious. When he was taken to Civil Hospital, Morinda he was declared dead. An F.I.R. No.13 dated 7th February,2001 was registered at P.S. Morinda under Section 302 I.P.C.( murder) and one Constable Manoj Kumar, Gurmeet Singh, Sarpanch Jagtar Singh, Surjit Singh, Nirmal Singh, all residents of Village Saheri were booked for the custodial death of the deceased Jaspal Singh. Ironically, the police has failed to explain as how the outsiders had succeeded in beating the deceased in Police Custody which ultimately claimed his death. Interestingly, the last sentence of the statement of the mother of deceased mentions that all the police officials present in Police Station Morinda on the intervening night of 6th-7th February,2001 are responsible for the death of the deceased.

ACTION TAKEN BY POLICE

The Ropar police has miserably failed to discharge its duty of handling the case with the required urgency and seriousness. For the whole of the day of 7th February,2001 neither S.S.P. nor any Sub-Divisional Magistrate was available in the Police Station Morinda to inform about the tragedy to the people. The situation was not properly handled due to which the people had lost their cool and resorted to stone pelting upon the Police Station. None of the persons named in the F.I.R. have so far been arrested by the Police, nor the constable Manoj Kumar has been suspended or arrested. The Police had not suspended or taken any action against the S.H.O. Tarlochan Singh till 8th February, 2001. Under public pressure, the SSP, Ropar in order to cover up his wrongs, only ordered the suspension of the S.H.O. and sent him to Police Lines, Ropar only on 8th February,2001. Till 10th February, 2001 the S.D.M. Ropar had not started any inquest proceedings and have failed to record the statement of the parents of the deceased or any other material witnesses. He has also not questioned the erring policemen about the chain of events which led them to pick the victim and subject him to so severe third degree torture.

ACTION TAKEN BY THE STATE GOVERNMENT

The District Administration also deserves dis-credit for not responding to the incident appropriately. The Deputy Commissioner, Ropar never took pains to console the parents of the deceased nor even a word of condemnation or sympathy for the bereaved family has come from the District Administration. Every organ of the District Administration including the Sub-Divisional Magistrate is shielding the erring police officials for the reasons best known to them. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Ropar who had the jurisdiction over the area was on out-station leave, so the District Magistrate sitting in his office at Ropar entrusted the inquiry and inquest proceedings to Sh.Devinder Singh, S.D.M. Kharar. Sh.Devinder Singh, reached Police Station Morinda at about 4 P.M. on 7th February,2001 and behaved in a very hostile manner with the general public. He refused to speak or tell anything to the parents of the deceased or any human right activist. When our team reached the Police Station, Morinda at 8 P.M. the S.D.M. was busy in tampering with the records by fabricating evidence and was hand in glove with the Police officials in the Police Station Morinda. When our team members took his photographs, he tried to hide himself and behaved in a very arrogant fashion. He simply proved to be a tool in the hands of the Local police. On the persistent inquiries by our team members, he agreed to take the parents of the deceased to Civil Hospital, Ropar to show the dead body of the deceased Jaspal Singh. When our team reached Civil Hospital, Ropar alongwith the parents of the deceased at 9 P.M. the S.D.M. inspite of sitting with the parents for more than an hour did not utter even a word of sympathy or consoled the bereaved parents. He also refused to disclose anything about his information gathered in the Police Station during his stay there for more than four hours. He categorically said that he was not told anything about the cause and time of the death of the deceased by the police. When he failed to show the dead body of the deceased to his parents till 10.15 P.M. the team members and the parents of the deceased insisted that the post-mortem and inquest proceedings should be conducted in their presence. At this, the S.D. M. Mr.Devinder Singh told them that they should make an application to him if they want the post-mortem of the dead body. Next day, on the request of the father of the deceased, the inquiry officer was changed from Devinder Singh, S.D.M. Kharar to S.D.M. Ropar as the parents had lost faith in the conduct of Sh.Devinder Singh.

EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT

Eye-witness Surmukh Singh, father of the deceased told that his son was picked up by two policemen in uniform alongwith Gurmeet Singh, Sarpanch Jagtar Singh, Surjit Singh and Nirmal Singh at about 9.30 P.M. on 6th February,2001.No arrest memo was prepared nor his or his wife’s signatures were obtained on any memo by the police party. They were also not told about the offence for which the victim Jaspal Singh was being taken away. The victim Jaspal Singh was being beaten even in their presence and he was crying loud and high due to the beating. When he resisted the illegal action of the police and tried to prevent the forcible picking up of the victim, he was also beaten and he suffered an injury on his right eye-brow. Later on at about 4 a.m. when he tried to search his son, the S.H.O. and the above named persons in a Police Gypsy threatened him that being a Scheduled Caste person, they have no right to live in the village and they will set him right.
Other eye-witnesses, namely Surinder Kaur and her father Dallan Singh and a head of Village Gurdwara, Bibi Harbhajan Kaur, also narrated the similar account.

MEDICAL EVIDENCE

The Post mortem examination on the body of the deceased was conducted by a board of doctors constituted by the District Magistrate. Dr. Surjit, MS, Dr. H. N. Sharma, M.S. and Dr. Tarlochan Singh, EMO, Civil Hospital, Ropar were appointed the members of the board. Besides, the father of the deceased, three of his representatives including our two team members, alongwith a Video camera man of the District Administration viewed the post-mortem examination. The whole post-mortem examination was video graphed on the orders of the National Human Rights Commission. The bare examination of the dead body from naked eyes proved beyond doubt that the victim had died due to extensive third degree torture subjected to him in the illegal Police Custody. It clearly showed marks of beating by Patta (leather belt), tying of upside down with rope, and tightening of chest by tying with chains, and beating by wooden sticks, applying of electric shock on legs and other sensitive parts of the body etc. The Post mortem examination described few external injuries which gives ample proof of the death by beating.The viscera of the deceased was sent to Chemical analysis laboratory at Patiala for proper analysis and its report. The opinion of the board of doctors regarding the cause of death is kept deferred till the receipt of report of visera to be sent by Chemical analyst.

FINDINGS

The investigation team of Lawyers For Human Rights International, visited Morinda and Civil Hospital, Ropar on 7th and 8th February, 2001 and during the course of investigation met about three material witnesses and hundreds of other residents of the area and also saw the dead body of the deceased minutely. Facts disclosed by the eye-witnesses and the relatives of the deceased were also recorded. The still photographs of the entire investigation was prepared and retained with negatives. Joining all the facts and circumstances of the case, the team is of the considered view that : –

1. The present case has exposed the lawlessness prevailing in the police stations in Punjab. It has established beyond doubt that there are a large number of dreaded and barbaric policemen in the Punjab police who considers law unto themselves. They have no fear of law. Senior Police officials tried to protect their erring officials. Especially in the present case, there has been every effort by the Punjab police and District Administration to conceal the facts and help the accused by all means. Even the responsible officers of the District Administration like the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Kharar appears to have been purchased for the fulfilment of this nefarious objective.

2. The direct involvement of Sub-Inspector Tarlochan Singh, S.H.O. of Police Station Morinda and his policemen and other criminal elements in the commission of murder of the victim, has also been established beyond reasonable doubt. It has also been established by medical evidence that the deceased was brutally beaten and subjected to third degree torture and he could not bear the torture and died of serious external and internal injuries inflicted on his person due to beating by police.
3. Public outcry against the dastardly custodial killing by S.I. Tarlochan Singh and his policemen has undoubtedly proved that many people had also suffered the wrath of the rowdy police force of the District Ropar. Their is a visible annoyance in the eyes of every citizen of Morinda and Saheri which came out in the form of outburst against the custodial killing of deceased Jaspal Singh in the present case. Thousands of people of village Saheri and adjoining areas including Morinda gheraoed the Police Station, Morinda and blocked the Chandigarh-Ludhiana National highway to express their anguish at the dastardly killing. The entire Morinda sub-Division and adjoining areas witnessed complete Bandh in protest against the killing on 7th and 8th February, 2001.
4. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Kharar who was entrusted the inquiry and inquest proceedings into the custodial death of Jaspal Singh tried his level best to help the erring police officials. He left no stone unturned to manipulate the record. He firstly ignored the fact as to whether the police had complied with the Supreme Court guidelines before bringing the deceased to the Police Station. He also failed to see as to whether or not any arrest memo was prepared and whether or not the cause of arrest was been communicated to the victim at the time of picking him up and Whether or not the signatures of the relative or next friend of the deceased was obtained on the arrest memo by the police. He also refused to show the dead body of the deceased to the parents of the deceased on 7th February,2001. But later on due to public presssure, the District Magistrate, transferred the inquiry and inquest proceedings from this S.D.M. to S.D. M. Ropar, because the parents of the deceased had lost faith in the S.D.M. Kharar. The Ropar police is openly shielding the accused Police personnel and other culprits. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Ropar is giving unwarranted statements to save the erring S.H.O. He never claimed that the Police will arrest the culprits within a specific time period, which shows that they know where the accused persons are and every effort is being made to allow them to escape from the law. The people as also the family members of the deceased have lost faith in the Punjab police and no alternative except handing over the investigation to an independent agency like the C.B.I. is left to the State Government, if it is interested in restoring people’s faith in the rule of Law.
5. The family of the deceased Jaspal Singh is in a very pitiable condition. Jaspal Singh, who was the elder son with one un-married sister and a handicapped brother, was the sole bread earner of the family and the plight of the family after his death could be well imagined. He was earning Rs.200/- daily while working as helper with a tent store. With his demise, his poor father and younger brother-sister are the worst affected persons. The family has been economically ruined due to the death of the deceased.
6. The role of press media in the entire incident is highly appreciable and they aptly reported the true account of the incident. However, much needs to be done by the media in highlighting the extra-judicial methods adopted by the police in the State which has by now gone un-addressed to some extent.
7. There is a blatant case of gross and deliberate non-compliance of the Supreme Court guidelines in case of arrest as described in the landmark judgment titled “ D.K.Basu Vs. State of West Bengal and ors.”(AIR 1997 SC 610). No arrest memo was prepared before picking up the victim. Nor any reason for such action was disclosed to him. The Police also did not obtain any signatures of any relative or next friend of the victim on any memo. The Police has also violated the Judgment of Punjab & Haryana High Court, reported in Judicial Reports (Criminal) 1998 Page wherein Mr.Justice R.L.Anand had ordered the removal of all instruments of torture such as Leather belts(Patta), Iron Roller (Ghotana), Shikanja( iron chain), Lathi (Wooden Stick), Electric Battery( electric shock treatment) and other instruments from every Police Station, CIA staff or any other place of detention in Punjab, Haryana and U.T. Chandigarh.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The investigation into the present case must be handed over to an independent agency like C.B.I. on account of inaction of Punjab police and shady conduct of Senior Police authorities in protecting the culprits including S.H.O. Tarlochan Singh, the main accused in the murder of Jaspal Singh, deceased.
2. The family of the victim must be compensated by paying an ex-gratia compensation of Rs.10 lacs from the State exchequer, besides offering a government job in district administration, because the deceased had been killed in Police Custody.
3. Departmental action must be taken against those policemen of Police Station Morinda who failed to save the victim from further torture and also failed to arrest the culprits after the incident.
4. The property of the culprits must be sealed forthwith and efforts should be made to arrest the culprits.

No political party, whether ruling or opposition in the State has shown courage to share the grief of the villagers except mincing few words of anger against Punjab Police or the State Government. Human Rights organisations and activists have rightly condemned the gruesome incident in strong words. To sum up, no words could express the grief and sorrow of the family of Jaspal Singh, who have lost their elder son in the prime of his youth, for no fault of his. It is urgently required that the State government in order to restore faith of the people in the Administration of justice should order an independent inquiry into the present case preferably by the C.B.I. and should immediately arrest S.H.O. Tarlochan Singh and every person involved in the custodial death and bring them to trial for the murder of Jaspal Singh. Only such action can really heal the wounds of the people, if at all the State government cares for its citizens.

ACTION TAKEN BY LHRI

Our organisation sent the copies of the above report to the Punjab State Human Rights Commission, Punjab & Haryana High Court, besides concerned civil and police authorities. Our organisation provided free legal aid to the parents of the deceased and filed a Civil Writ Petition in the matter seeking interim compensation to the tune of Rs. 5 lacs for the kin of the deceased. The said petition is pending in the High Court at the argument stage. The trial of the case is yet to begin and it is still under investigation.

CHANDIGARH
February 10, 2001