Videos

The Last Killing

Ensaaf is proud to present The Last Killing, an original documentary that chronicles police whistleblower Satwant Singh Manak's fight for justice for the survivors of ten victims of unlawful killings. May 23, 2014, marks 21 years since the Punjab Police filed false cases against Manak to punish him for standing up for human rights.

Listen to Hardeep Kaur's Story

 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.

Gurbachan Singh (brother of Kunda Singh)

 Gurbachan Singh shares the torture, illegal detentions, and unlawful killing of his brother Khunda Singh by Indian security forces, as well as the torture and persecution suffered by himself and his family.

Our Family's Execution

 Ravinder Singh describes how he escaped the torture and executions of 7 family members. His aunt and grandfather take us to the house where the atrocities occurred.

Charanjit Kaur

 Imagine sending your 10-year old son to school one day, only for the police to gun him down.

A Light of Justice: Commemorating Jaswant Singh Khalra

 This film contains interviews with Khalra’s family, as well as archival footage of Khalra when he was investigating secret cremations and disappearances in Punjab.
Virtual Site of Conscience Project Ensaaf will create visualizations to promote accountability and support prosecutions for crimes against humanity in Punjab.

A Song To Remember

 Manbir Singh Mand and Jatinderpal Singh pay tribute to their three uncles, killed by Indian security forces during the Decade of Disappearances in Punjab.
Seeking Ensaaf Seeking Ensaaf follows Ensaaf field workers as they document a case of unlawful killing in Punjab.
A Labor of Love: Contesting Impunity On the morning of July 23, 1989, Kuljit Singh Dhatt was on his way to the Bhogpur Sugar Mill when the Punjab Police illegally abducted him.
Sukhminder Kaur Sukhminder Kaur lost her only son, Sarabhjit Singh, in 1989, when he was 15 to 16 years old.
A Witness Among the Bodies: Surviving 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.
Watch Survivor Interviews, Days after November 1984 This news footage takes us to the refugee camps set up after the November 1984 pogroms of Sikhs in Delhi, where survivors display raw wounds, search for missing loved ones, and share accounts of the killings.

The Last Killing Trailer

 Satwant Singh Manak joined the Punjab Police with dreams of making his community safer. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Punjab Police terrorized its own citizens in the name of fighting an insurgency.

Manak’s Response to High Court Dismissal of His Case

 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.

Paramjit Kaur Khalra: “Something needs to be done about the slaughter that took place in Punjab.”

 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.

Impunity in Punjab

 Impunity in Punjab is the third in a series of moving videos produced by the New Media Advocacy Project in collaboration with Ensaaf, focusing on testimonies from survivors and human rights activists.

Chaman Lal

 Chaman Lal’s inspiring yet fruitless struggle to obtain justice for the illegal abduction and murder of his son reminds us that the fight to end impunity in Punjab is far from over.

Cascade of Voices

 This video, produced by the New Media Advocacy Project, showcases survivors’ determination to learn the true fate of their loved ones, as well as the continuing emotional and financial impact these abuses have had on families.
Watch Another Punjab Policeman Speak Out about Human Rights Abuses Former Punjab Police official Lakhwinder Singh describes his experiences in the police force, where he witnessed his colleagues performing torture and himself narrowly escaped a faked encounter.

The Extrajudicial Killing of Kulwant Singh: “The boy was begging with folded hands.”

 Witnesses describe how the Punjab police detained and beat an unarmed Sikh youth, pulled his hair and chased him as he begged for his life, and then shot him at point blank range on July 8, 1990 in Mohali, Punjab.

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.

See all of Ensaaf's videos on our YouTube page and learn more through our collection of Photo Essays.

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.