The CBI’s List, under Sl. No. 39/107, identifies the 13 July 1989 cremation of Sukhwinder Singh, alias Nikku, s/o Darbara Singh, r/o village Balgalipur carried out by Constable Lakha Singh, No. 2619 of Tarn Taran’s City police under FIR No. 108/89. The postmortem report is mentioned as AK 34/89. The cause of death is mentioned as “police encounter”.

The Committee has the following information in this case through its Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01426. The main informant is the victim’s brother Harjinder Singh.

Sukhwinder Singh, a 25 year old farmer, lived in Bengali Pur under Tarn Taran Sadar police station of Amritsar district. He was married but had no children. Following his enforced disappearance in July 1989, his wife has remarried.

Sukhwinder’s parents died while he was young and he, along with his younger brothers and sisters, were raised by his grandparents. After Operation Blue Star in June 1984, Sukhwinder, a baptized Sikh, had become involved in the movement for Khalistan. The police used to detain him regularly for questioning under torture, and once even registered a criminal case against him. He was released on bail, but the police continued to detain him illegally for interrogation under torture.

On 12 July 1989, Sukhwinder went to meet some friends in Tarn Taran city. A group of officials led by SHO Sita Ram from Tarn Taran city police station took him into custody near Nangian Pairan Wala Chowk and thrashed him severely in public when he resisted the arrest. He was bleeding and unable to walk when the police officials lifted him into a jeep and drove away. The family members found out about the arrest late in the evening.

The next morning, Sukhwinder’s brother Harjinder Singh, accompanied by a large number of local people, went to Tarn Taran police station where they learned that Sukhwinder had died in the police lock-up. The senior police officials refused to give the dead body to the relatives, but allowed some of the village elders to take a look at the dead body. The police carried out the cremation and did not permit the family members and their sympathizers to come near the site. ')"

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