Under Sl. No. 2/002, the list identifies the 21 July 1984 cremation of Acchar Singh, s/o Tara Singh, r/o Kamboke village in Patti subdivision of Amritsar district, carried out by Head Constable Vishwamitra of Patti police station under FIR No. 223/84. The postmortem report is marked as SKG?16/84. The cause of death is given as “police encounter”.

The Committee has the following information in this case through its Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01540. Dalbir Kaur, the victim’s widow, is the main informant.

Twenty-five year old Acchar Singh, son of Tara Singh and Dhanto, was a resident of Mari Kambo Ki village under Khalra police station in Patti subdivision of Amritsar district. A young farmer, Acchar Singh was married to Dalbir Kaur with two young sons, Sukhdev Singh and Gurdev Singh, who are now 20 and 18.

Achhar Singh, a baptized Sikh, was a supporter of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. After Operation Blue Star in June 1984, the army launched another operation, code named “Wood Rose”, directed against Bhindranwale’s sympathizers in the countryside. Acchar Singh became a suspect around this time.

Soldiers of the Indian army, assisted by the Punjab police, began to raid Achhar Singh’s house. In his absence, the police picked up his brother and harassed other family members. The family then decided to produce Achhar Singh, through members of the village council and other elders, before SHO Pooran Singh of Khalra police station. The SHO had promised to proceed in a legally appropriate manner, but Achhar Singh was declared killed in an “encounter”, near Patti More, three days after his surrender. The family read about his killing in a newspaper report and then went to Khalra police station to ask for the dead body and details of the cremation if it had already been performed. The officials at Khalra police station refused to discuss anything with them and the family had to keep quiet because of the prevailing atmosphere of terror.

The family holds SSP Booa Singh of Amritsar and the SHOs of Khalra and Patti police stations responsible. According to Acchar Singh’s widow Dalbir Kaur, one of her husband’s cousins, Gurmej Singh, son of Amrik Singh from Sanpura village near Bhikhiwind, was later arrested and killed by the Amritsar police in a separate incident.

Report | Database | Backgrounder |Articles | Legal Battles | Interviews | Links |Get Involved |
News |Advocacy | About us | Home | Search this site |
Copyright©CIIP