Spotlight

UN Report Discusses Illegal Cremations

This video gives a brief introduction to human rights defender Jaswant Singh Khalra's discovery of mass secret cremations of bodies of victims of disappearances and unlawful killings. In November 2007, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances discussed this issue further.

UN Torture Expert

In December 2017, human rights organizations REDRESS and Ensaaf filed an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (PDF) in the case of Jagtar Singh Johal, “Jaggi”, a British man who has been detained without charge in India since 4 November 2017.

Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

In November 2007, Ensaaf submitted information for consideration by the UN Human Rights Council in its UPR of India in April 2008. Ensaaf submitted its recent joint report with Human Rights Watch, as well as a letter summarizing gross human rights violations perpetrated in Punjab and the government's failure to provide effective remedies for these violations.

In November 2011, Ensaaf partnered with international human rights organization REDRESS, to make a joint submission (PDF) to the UN Human Rights Council for its 2012 UPR of India. The joint submission focused on mass cremations, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings carried out in Punjab, India during the 1980s and 1990s. It also discussed the failure of the Government of India to hold the individuals responsible for these violations to account and to provide victims with effective remedies and full reparation.

Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID)

On November 21, 2007, Ensaaf met with the WGEID in Geneva, Switzerland, to present general allegations against India for its role in perpetrating enforced disappearances. This visit followed a submission (PDF) of general allegations as well as 32 individual cases that Ensaaf jointly made with two other prominent human rights groups – REDRESS and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law (CHRGJ). The WGEID's 2009 report (PDF) incorporated many of the allegations presented by Ensaaf.

Sukhwinder Singh Bhatti

On May 12, 2006, the 12th anniversary of the disappearance of Punjab human rights attorney Sukhwinder Singh Bhatti, Ensaaf submitted communications to the UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, providing a detailed summary of Bhatti’s case, identifying key perpetrators, and describing the operation of an unofficial interrogation center. Both mechanisms acted on Ensaaf’s submissions, sending separate communications to the Indian government urging a thorough investigation into the disappearance.

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UN Convention Against Torture & Special Rapporteur on Torture

In November 2005, Ensaaf submitted an application for relief from extradition on behalf of Kulvir Singh Barapind to the US Secretary of State, under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). In addition to securing support from international human rights groups and a US Congressman, Ensaaf also submitted a communication to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture regarding Barapind's case, securing the Rapporteur's intervention. Barapind was not tortured and was acquitted of all charges in April 2008.

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UN Commission on Human Rights

In April 2004, Ensaaf attended the UN Commission on Human Rights, focusing its advocacy on issues of forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, and the Punjab mass cremations case proceeding before the National Human Rights Commission.

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We engage in strategic litigation to hold perpetrators accountable and set national precedents on human rights norms.

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Mapping the Killings

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Rajvinder S. Bains:
This procedure has failed completely.

Rajvinder S. Bains, a human rights attorney in the Punjab & Haryana High Court for over 20 years, discusses his experiences with the High Court in cases filed on behalf of victims of disappearances or extrajudicial executions. (Oct. 2007)

Mohinder Singh:
What justice can we get from here?

Mohinder Singh discusses the abduction and murder of his son by the Punjab police and his pursuit of numerous avenues of justice. (Oct. 2007)

Tarlochan Singh:
A Mockery of Justice

Tarlochan Singh describes his son Kulwinder Singh’s abduction by the Punjab police, and his 18-year continuing legal struggle for justice for Kulwinder Singh’s extrajudicial execution. (Oct. 2007)

Gurcharan Singh and his Desire for Justice

In an SBS Dateline program on Punjab, Geoff Parish discusses the Punjab governments offer of compensation to 17 families, with no investigation or admission of liability by the state, in the Punjab mass cremations case. Gurcharan Singh rejected this offer. (Apr. 2002, Uploaded with permission from SBS.)

Jaswant Singh Khalra: Investigations into Illegal Cremations

An SBS Dateline program on Punjab describes human rights defender Jaswant Singh Khalras discovery of the Punjab polices use of secret cremations to hide evidence of extrajudicial executions. The clip includes an interview with human rights activist Ram Narayan Kumar. (Apr. 2002, Uploaded with permission from SBS.)

A Witness Among the Bodies: Surviving Bluestar

On the 30th Anniversary of Operation Bluestar, Ensaaf presents an eyewitness account of the Indian Army attack on The Harmandir Sahib Complex in Amritsar, Punjab, from June 1 and June 6, 1984. This exclusive interview reveals how the Indian Army intentionally killed thousands of civilians and used excessive force during this assault.

Ensaaf Speaks with Manak about Court Decision,
November 28, 2013

On November 26, 2013, the Punjab & Haryana High Court allowed the appeal of the State of Punjab and reversed and nullified the decision of the Single Judge directing investigation by the CBI. Not only did it refuse to order an inquiry into Satwant Singh Manak’s allegations that he witnessed the Punjab Police torture and unlawfully kill ten people, it also fined Manak, ordering him to pay 2,000 rupees to each of the accused police officers.
 

A Labor Of Love: Contesting Impunity

On July 23, 1989, Punjab Police officers abducted, tortured, and unlawfully killed 35-year old Sikh community leader Kuljit Singh Dhatt. For 25 years, his family has relentlessly pursued justice, attending over a hundred hearings, petitioning various courts and commissions, and enduring police harassment and intimidation of witnesses. On May 9, 2014, a judge convicted three police officers of abduction in order to murder Kuljit Singh Dhatt, sentencing them to a mere five years. The legal battle continues, now in the higher courts.

Navkiran Kaur Khalra:
“We are proud of what our father did.”

Navkiran Kaur Khalra, daughter of murdered human rights defender Jaswant Singh Khalra, recounts her family’s struggle for justice and her father’s discovery of thousands of killings and secret cremations by the Punjab police to hide evidence of wrongdoing. (Oct. 2007)

Jaswant Singh Khalra: Last International Speech – The Struggle for Truth

In his last speech made to a Canadian audience, Jaswant Singh Khalra discusses his investigations into the thousands of illegal killings and secret cremations by the Punjab police and his readiness to die to expose the truth about these crimes. Jaswant Singh Khalra begins his speech with a moving fable about the struggle of truth and light against expanding darkness. He recounts how he traced the fate of many disappeared Sikhs to Amritsar’s municipal cremation grounds. Through government records obtained from these municipalities, Khalra exposed a detailed history of systematic human rights violations in which security forces abducted, murdered, and secretly cremated an estimated 6,017 Sikhs in Amritsar district alone–then one of 13 districts in Punjab–from 1984 to 1995. (Apr. 1995)

Paramjit Kaur Khalra on Impunity in Punjab

In this video, Paramjit Kaur Khalra describes the need for a truth commission to redress the thousands of disappearances and killings in Punjab, India perpetrated during the counterinsurgency of 1984 to 1995. In September and October 1995, Indian security forces illegally detained, tortured, and killed her husband, human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, for his work uncovering over 2,000 cases of extrajudicial executions and secret cremations in Amritsar district alone. On November 4, 2011, India’s Supreme Court upheld life imprisonment for five officers involved in Khalra’s unlawful abduction, torture, and killing. Mrs. Khalra continues to seek justice for the all victims of illegal killings and disappearances.

Seeking Ensaaf

On Human Rights Day, we share this documentary to show you how your support helps us document abuses on the ground. Seeking Ensaaf, filmed by Andrew Heskett, Ryan Westra, and David Thompson, recipients of the Sikh Scholarship Program at Chapman University, in August 2013, follows Ensaaf field workers as they document a case of extrajudicial killing in Punjab. Thank you for joining us on this journey to end impunity and achieve justice for the disappearances and unlawful killings of the Decade of Disappearances in Punjab.

A Light of Justice: Commemorating Jaswant Singh Khalra

On the 20th anniversary of the police abduction of human rights defender Jaswant Singh Khalra, Ensaaf released A Light of Justice: Commemorating Jaswant Singh Khalra. This 30-minute film contains interviews with Khalra’s family, as well as archival footage of Khalra when he was investigating secret cremations and disappearances in Punjab.

Twenty years after Khalra’s martyrdom, the architects of the widespread and systematic human rights abuses in Punjab remain free. The Indian government is no closer to bringing Gill and the other perpetrators to justice for organizing Khalra’s – and thousands of other innocent Sikhs’ – death.

Please watch and share this film via Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The Last Killing

Satwant Singh Manak joined the Punjab Police to provide his family with a stable income. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, in response to an insurgency, Indian security forces committed systematic and widespread torture, disappearances, and unlawful killings in Punjab. Manak silently witnessed the torture and executions of 15 unarmed individuals at the hands of his fellow police officers. The killing of Kulwant Singh, a teenager who had passed 10th grade, deeply affected Manak. No longer able to suppress his conscience and the horror of what he witnessed, he resigned from his job and filed a case against his fellow police officers. That case covers ten of the victims.