Gurdev Singh speaks about his family’s persecution, and about the extrajudicial execution of his brother. “They beat my father brutally. They beat him like one would beat corn. With rods. They beat him unconscious,” Gurdev Singh told Ensaaf.
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.
Many victim testimonials can be found in our Interviews portal; more videos are forthcoming regularly.
Read more about the project and browse the extensive information available on crimes against humanity in Punjab.
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
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.
A few years after Indian security forces unlawfully killed Palwinder Kaur’s husband Sarbjit Singh in 1991, they abducted, illegally detained, and tortured her. They waterboarded Palwinder Kaur and forced her to sign blank pieces of paper. But in sharing her experiences with Ensaaf, it was her young son’s desperation to find his father that made her tear up, not her own ordeal of torture.
Palwinder Kaur, wife of Sarbjit Singh
In the years after her husband’s murder, Indian security forces tortured her, abducted her son, destroyed their belongings, and intimidated family members. Listen to Palwinder Kaur recount her experiences, describe the feeling of isolation from community, and call out for justice.
Palwinder Kaur’s testimony is preserved on Ensaaf’s video archive site Testimonies of Truth. This human rights video archive will grow to be the first and largest repository of video testimonials from surviving families of the “Decade of Disappearances.” Testimonies of Truth: A Video Archive will serve as a permanent, powerful, interactive tool to educate the global community, complementing Ensaaf’s data site on Crimes Against Humanity.
Share this video with your friends, family, and community. Help bring the voices of survivors to the entire world!
In 1993, after Punjab Police abducted Gurmeet Kaur from her home in Kalia, a witness saw her in illegal detention and reported, “She was…severely beaten.” The Punjab Police killed her and orphaned her two children.
Today, we share her full profile on our data visualization site, the first release of the 121 female victims of disappearances and unlawful killings in Punjab documented by Ensaaf. The new information added to her profile includes why Indian security forces targeted her–her husband was a militant, her experiences of illegal detention, a detailed case summary, and the officials responsible for unlawfully killing her, among other information. Her family did not pursue any legal remedies, and her children eventually dropped out of school.
Please double your donation today to support the Documenting Female Victims project. Your support will help us expand the records of 121 female victims of enforced disappearances and unlawful killings from 1984 to 1995 in Punjab, India.
Today, as we remember the 38th anniversary of the massacre at the Harmandir Sahib complex in June 1984, we announce Ensaaf’s project, Documenting Female Victims. We ask for your donation to help create and preserve the record of 121 female victims of enforced disappearances and unlawful killings from 1984 to 1995 in Punjab, India. Currently, generous individuals have pledged to match up to $15,000 in donations.
I also want to tell you that my sister-in-law, Raj Kaur, was six months pregnant at the time. That [child] was also killed by the police, or died after being born. Afterwards, when I became acquainted with the police employees, they told [me] that, “Gurcharan Singh, Raj Kaur, [and] Kuldev Kaur died while being tortured at Amloh police station.’ [O] learned that the police beat Surinder Kaur and then shot her on the same day, and threw the body in the Bakhra River.
Ensaaf visited over 12,000 villages in Punjab, documenting disappearances and unlawful killings perpetrated by Indian security forces, primarily from 1984 to 1995. Ensaaf released the first data visualization site to map and provide detailed information on crimes against humanity in Punjab, including over 5300 individual profiles of victims, covering over 40 points of information.
What happened to female victims of crimes against humanity?
As Ensaaf has continued to process its data and release information on perpetrators and develop a companion video testimonial site, we asked ourselves about the unique experiences of the female victims. Did security forces target them for different reasons? Did they suffer different patterns of abuse? Who held the information on what the female victims experienced? Documenting Female Victims will provide the resources Ensaaf needs to answer these questions.
Please support the match campaign organized with the Dasvandh Network and learn more about what the project involves, including 121 complete profiles on the female victims with family reflections and case summaries, data visualizations, and an in-depth report.
Thank you for supporting our mission to end impunity and achieve justice for crimes against humanity in Punjab!
With much excitement, we invite you to explore the beta release of our new Testimonies of Truth: A Video Archive, with an initial selection of interviews and clips, exploring key human rights themes and survivor perspectives.
This human rights video archive will grow to be the first and largest repository of video testimonials from surviving families of the “Decade of Disappearances.” Testimonies of Truth: A Video Archive will serve as a permanent, powerful, interactive tool to educate the global community, complementing Ensaaf’s data site on Crimes Against Humanity. With your generous support, this archive will be accessed at no charge worldwide.
By honoring these victim and survivor stories, we hope to continue to educate people around the world about crimes against humanity in Punjab. As you interact with the archive, you can search by theme to learn more about the victims, their stories, and reflections. As this is the beta version of our video archive site, we welcome feedback to info@ensaaf.org as we continue to build out the site.
Ensaaf is grateful to the Khalsa Credit Union for sponsoring the Testimonies of Truth video archive. To date, about 150 survivor video interviews have been filmed since 2012, but there isstill work to doto amplify their voices to the world.
Testimonies of Truth: A Video Archive will serve as a permanent, powerful, interactive tool to educate the global community, complementing Ensaaf’s data site on Crimes Against Humanity.
Today, August 30, marks the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. On this day, we thank you for helping us ensure the names and stories of the victims live on.
Sukhminder Kaur holds onto the passport of her son, Sarabjit Singh, disappeared January 26, 1989, from his home when he was 17 years-old. Police barged into their home during wedding celebrations. She told Ensaaf, “No one has told me if my son is alive or not. I’m holding on to my own hopes, if someone tries to tell me that he is not, I feel angry. If you see something with your own eyes only then can you find peace. Like I told you before, he was precious.”
More than 30 years have passed, and she has not received truth or justice for the disappearance of her son. As the United Nation states, the families of victims “alternate between hope and despair, wondering and waiting, sometimes for years, for news that may never come.”
Ensaaf stands in solidarity with victims of disappearances and unlawful killings in Punjab and throughout the world. Thank you for your financial support these past two weeks, helping us reach our goal of $30,000. Your contribution will help us create an undeniable and permanent record of India’s atrocity crimes.
Testimonies of Truth: A Video Archive will serve as a permanent, powerful, interactive tool to educate the global community, complementing Ensaaf’s data site on Crimes Against Humanity.
We stand with every victim and survivor, dedicated to seeking and speaking the truth. There can be no bystanders in state abuse.
Over 15 years ago, Ensaaf embarked on a journey to identify and capture every testimony of disappearance and unlawful killing in Punjab from the Decade of Disappearances. The initiative aimed to counter state denials, expose the widespread and systematic extent of the abuses, erode the moral authority of perpetrators, and bring to light the application of repressive laws in India.
Throughout the past decade, our work has been steady and unwavering as the world around us suffered other wars, polarizing presidents, and a global pandemic, among other crises.
We could not have done this without you. We ask you to continue to support us, so that we can ensure each story is honored and shared.
Testimonies of Truth: A Video Archive will serve as a permanent, powerful, interactive tool to educate the global community, complementing Ensaaf’s data site on Crimes Against Humanity.
Hardeep Kaur’s daughter says, “I didn’t get my father’s love.”
We have an incredible opportunity to raise $30,000 by August 30, the International Day of the Disappeared. Every dollar you give will be matched, 100%.
Watch Hardeep Kaur share the impact of the Decade of Disappearances on her children. Indian security forces disappeared her husband Charat Singh. His daughter was born two months after they disappeared him: She says to her siblings, “Father picked you up, gave you love. I didn’t get my father’s love.”
Testimonies of Truth: A Video Archive will house hundreds of complete testimonies, as well as thematic clips. Clips will center on the following themes: About the victim, Disappearance, Extrajudicial execution, Justice & accountability, Persecution of family, Reflections, and Torture & prior persecution.
This human rights video archive will be the first and largest repository of video testimonials from surviving families of the “Decade of Disappearances.” Please support us today.
Testimonies of Truth: A Video Archive will serve as a permanent, powerful, interactive tool to educate the global community, complementing Ensaaf’s data site on Crimes Against Humanity.
Thank you for your support in helping us build Testimonies of Truth: A Video Archive of over 200 survivor interviews, thematic clips, and oral histories, exploring key human rights themes and survivor perspectives.
Over the next 12 days, we have an incredible opportunity to raise $30,000 by August 30, the International Day of the Disappeared.
Today, as an example of the survivor interviews that will fill the video archive, we release the testimony of Gurbachan Singh, 70 years old at the time of interview. Gurbachan Singh shares the torture, illegal detentions, and unlawful killing of his brother Khunda Singh, as well as the torture and persecution suffered by himself and his family.
They did not give him back to us. We have no keepsakes. We faced a lot of troubles, even on our bodies in countless ways.
My son and daughter-in-law also died because of this. My wife also died because of police beatings.
-Gurbachan Singh
Help us amplify the voice of Gurbachan Singh and bring his testimony to the entire world!
Testimonies of Truth: A Video Archive will serve as a permanent, powerful, interactive tool to educate the global community, complementing Ensaaf’s data site on Crimes Against Humanity.
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)
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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.
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