Publications

Reports

Ensaaf’s groundbreaking reports document and analyze abuses and impunity, countering official denials and building evidence for accountability.

November 2014

No Stone Unturned: 25 Years of Contesting Impunity

Ensaaf

Read an in-depth analysis of the Kuljit Singh Dhatt case, including the role of state institutions in fabricating evidence, intimidating witnesses, protecting the perpetrators, and delaying justice. The report spotlights those who have stood by the truth, from family members to eyewitnesses. The family filed a case in September 1989 and a sessions court delivered a verdict on May 9, 2014. Learn why it took 25 years to reach a trial verdict and why justice still has not been delivered.

January 2009

Violent Deaths and Enforced Disappearances During the Counterinsurgency in Punjab, India

A Preliminary Quantitative Analysis

Ensaaf and the Benetech Human Rights Data Analysis Group

The report by Ensaaf and HRDAG, “Violent Deaths and Enforced Disappearances During the Counterinsurgency in Punjab, India,” presents empirical findings suggesting that the intensification of counterinsurgency operations in Punjab in the early 1990s was accompanied by a shift in state violence from targeted lethal human rights violations to systematic enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions, accompanied by mass “illegal cremations.” Indian security officials have dismissed claims of human rights violations as unavoidable “aberrations” during the counterinsurgency against alleged terrorists in Punjab from 1984 to 1995.

October 2007

Protecting the Killers

A Policy of Impunity in Punjab, India

Ensaaf and Human Rights Watch

This report examines the challenges faced by victims and their relatives in pursuing legal avenues for accountability for the human rights abuses perpetrated during the government’s counterinsurgency campaign. The report describes the impunity enjoyed by officials responsible for violations and the near total failure of India’s judicial and state institutions, from the National Human Rights Commission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to provide justice for victims’ families.

March 2007 (2nd edition)

Twenty Years of Impunity

The November 1984 Pogroms of Sikhs in India

Ensaaf

In March 2007, Ensaaf released the second edition of Twenty Years of Impunity. More than two years had passed since the publication of the first edition. During that time, the Justice Nanavati Commission of Inquiry submitted its report to the Indian government, the Congress administration submitted an Action Taken Report to Parliament, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologized, but refused to accept state responsibility for the massacres. The report inclues a new chapter that succinctly articulates the failings of the Nanavati Commission and the Action Taken Report, after a thorough consideration of the evidence at the government’s disposal.

January 2007

The Punjab Mass Cremations Case (pdf)

India Burning the Rule of Law

Ensaaf

From 1984 to 1994, Punjab security forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations that included widespread and systematic human rights abuses such as torture, disappearances, and extrajudicial executions, which claimed an estimated 10,000 to 25,000 lives. In the early 1990s, Director General of Police (Punjab) KPS Gill expanded upon a system of rewards and incentives for police to capture and kill militants, leading to an increase in disappearances and extrajudicial executions of civilians and militants alike. Hundreds of perpetrators, including all of the major architects of these crimes, have escaped accountability.

October 2005

Punjab Police: Fabricating Terrorism through Illegal Detention and Torture

June 2005 to August 2005

Ensaaf

This report 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. These arrests center around the apprehension of Jagtar Singh Hawara, the main accused in the 1995 assassination of Punjab’s chief minister.

Op-Eds

January 2015

Confront India on poor human rights record

The Hill

Sukhman Dhami (Ensaaf)

 

March 2013

India won’t be ‘the world’s largest democracy’ until it upholds human rights

Christian Science Monitor

Sukhman Dhami (Ensaaf)

 

November 2009

Bay Area can help seek justice in India massacres

The Mercury News

Jaskaran Kaur (Ensaaf)

 

February 2007

Injustice Cost Votes in Punjab Polls

The Asian Age

Jasmine Marwaha (Ensaaf) and Meenakshi Ganguly (Human Rights Watch)

 

July 2005

The Legacy of India’s Counter-Terrorism

The Boston Globe

Jaskaran Kaur (Ensaaf)

Letters, Communications & Legal Briefs

December 2017

Rights Groups Call on UN Expert to Intervene in Torture of British National

Human rights organisations REDRESS and Ensaaf today have filed an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture in the case of Jagtar Singh Johal, “Jaggi”, a British man who has been detained without charge in India since 4 November 2017.

 

April 2015

Illegal Detention and Abuse of U.S. Citizen in Punjab

On April 15, 2015, Ensaaf reached out to Congressmen and Senators on behalf of U.S. citizen Ravinderjeet Singh. The letter discusses the threats, false charges, illegal and arbitrary detention, and physical abuse suffered by Ravinderjeet Singh by government and security forces in Punjab, India.

For a copy of each letter, please click on the following links: Congressman Chris Smith; Senator Dianne Feinstein; Senator Barbara Boxer; Congressman Jerry McNerney.

 

November 2014

Ensaaf, The Sikh Coalition, and Human Rights Watch Urge President Obama To Support Justice for 1984 Massacres

Ensaaf, in partnership with The Sikh Coalition and Human Rights Watch, sent a letter today to President Barack Obama, urging him to support justice for the 1984 anti-Sikh massacres, which claimed the lives of thousands of Sikhs throughout India 30 years ago.

 

April 2013

Joint Letter to United States Department of State: Call on India to Halt the Execution of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar (pdf)

Ensaaf, Jakara Movement, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikh Coalition, Sikh Research Institute, United Sikhs and Voices For Freedom issued letters to the United States Department of State (pdf), Commission on International Religious Freedom (pdf), and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (pdf).

 

January 2012

Joint Submission to Universal Periodic Review by Ensaaf and REDRESS (pdf)

Ensaaf

 

November 2007

Submission to the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (pdf)

Ensaaf

 

November 2007

Submission to UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (pdf)

Ensaaf, REDRESS, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice

 

September 2006

International Legal Arguments: High Court Petition to Investigate and Prosecute Gill for Murder of Khalra (pdf)

Ensaaf

 

September 2006

Executive Summary: High Court Petition to Investigate and Prosecute Gill for Murder of Khalra (pdf)

Ensaaf

 

May 2006

Communication to Special Representative on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders (Disappearance of Human Rights Attorney Sukhwinder Singh Bhatti) (pdf)

Ensaaf

 

May 2006

Joint Letter to Director, Central Bureau of Investigation, calling for prosecution of KPS Gill for murder of Jaswant Singh Khalra

Ensaaf, Human Rights Watch, REDRESS, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice

 

November 2005

Summary of Order Convicting Six Punjab Policemen in Khalra’s Abduction and Murder

Ensaaf

 

September 2005

Joint Letter to Congressional Human Rights Caucus: The “Disappeared” and the Disappearance of Justice in India

Ensaaf, Human Rights Watch, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice

Select Other Publications (not published by Ensaaf)

Appear for the Disappeared

Join Ensaaf for our Walkathon and Fundraiser. Take 5,269 steps (4 km) in one day in honor of each victim profiled on our Mapping Crimes Against Humanity site.

Multiply your impact.
Fight for truth and justice now, and double your donation.

Mapping the Killings

View our interactive data visualization site, mapping and profiling 5300+ victims.

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.