Major New Data Release: Identities of the Killing Officials

June 2, 2023 in Blog, Community, Documentation, Legal Advocacy, Press, Publications, Reports

Thirty-nine years ago, the 1984 Indian Army attack on the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar, Punjab marked the beginning of a decades long reign of terror in which India’s security forces disappeared and unlawfully killed thousands. Today, Ensaaf releases data on hundreds of police officials named by survivors as directly involved in unlawfully killing 2,003 individuals.

The 5300+ profiles on Ensaaf’s data visualization site had previously identified officials involved in the abduction/disappearance of victims. Today, Ensaaf releases data for 2,003 profiles where survivors identified the officials directly involved in the killing of victims. See the profiles of 14-year old Puran Singh, 87-year old Dewarki Kaur, and 35-year old Surinder Kaur, and many more, to learn who the family holds responsible for the killing of their loved one.

The 5300+ profiles on Ensaaf’s data visualization site had previously identified officials involved in the abduction/disappearance of victims. Today, Ensaaf releases data for 2,003 profiles where survivors identified the officials directly involved in the killing of victims. See the profiles of 14-year old Puran Singh, 87-year old Dewarki Kaur, and 35-year old Surinder Kaur, and many more, to learn who the family holds responsible for the killing of their loved one.

Ensaaf has selected 40 senior police officials to highlight their direct involvement in the abduction/disappearance and/or unlawful killing of victims.

Now that Ensaaf has released this data, Ensaaf will build detailed dossiers attributing responsibility to senior police officials for both their direct and command involvement. Ensaaf has already released one detailed report on Sumedh Saini, and plans to release several more this year.

In these 2,003 cases where families named killing officials, Ensaaf drew from survivor testimony, and then cross-referenced thousands of articles published in the daily Punjabi Ajit, the Indian Police Service annual posting lists, as well as the websites of individual police districts, to confirm postings of senior police officials.

This latest data release continues Ensaaf’s goals to promote survivors’ right to truth, to counter state denial, and to promote accountability by preserving evidence and archival information.

Please donate today and help us continue this work to document crimes against humanity in Punjab.

Ensaaf’s data visualization site on Crimes Against Humanity in Punjab allows users to view 5,300 profiles in detail. Victim profiles in both the gallery view and the map can be filtered according to several variables to identify subsets of victims and explore patterns of gross human rights violations. Read more about the project and browse the extensive information available on crimes against humanity in Punjab.

The Ensaaf Team

Give Victims A Voice matching campaign

November 30, 2022 in Blog, Community, Documentation, Legal Advocacy, Press

On this Giving Tuesday, Ensaaf launches its end-of-year matching campaign. Generous donors will match the first $35,000 raised.

When Ensaaf interviewed Palwinder Kaur, she told us, “My son, who was blind, he used to walk in the streets and say, ‘I am going to ask these men and they will get my father released. If we ask the men outside, only then will they get my father released.’ Police took him into custody. When he used to say such things, I would feel so much pain. It made me feel so much pain. Who is even going to listen to him?”

Palwinder Kaur, wife of Sarbjit Singh
Palwinder Kaur, wife of Sarbjit Singh

Due to your support, we were able to reach Palwinder Kaur and document her family’s experiences of unlawful killing, illegal detention, and torture. She wanted the world to know what had happened.

Over the coming weeks, we will share more information about our major projects and work in creating an undeniable record of crimes against humanity in Punjab, from documenting over 5,300 cases of enforced disappearances and unlawful killings, to creating the first searchable video database that will house over 150 video interviews with victim families.

Please give today and double your donation. Our combined strategies of creating an undeniable record of gross human rights violations, holding perpetrators accountable, and putting international pressure on India will end impunity and achieve justice in Punjab.

The Ensaaf Team

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.