Under Sl. Nos. 76/205, 77/206 and 78/207, the list identifies three cremations carried out by SHO Surinder Singh of Harike police on 16 July 1990 under FIR No. 49/90. They are of [1] Major Singh, s/o Gulzar Singh Jat, r/o Nadhohar, [2] Gurnam Singh, s/o Kartar Singh, r/o Rasoolpur and [3] Nishan Singh, s/o Karnail Singh, r/o Shirpur Seda. The postmortem reports are marked as SS 4/90, SS 5/90 and SS 6/90. The cause of death is given as “firearm injuries”.

The Committee has the following information in the cases of Major Singh and Gurnam Singh through its Incident-Report Form Nos. CCDP/01584 and 01532. The main informants are the victims’ brothers Sukhdev Singh and Balkar Singh.

Major Singh, son of Gulzar Singh and Jagir Kaur, was a 21-year-old boy from village Nadohar, post office Bathe Bhaini under Harike police station in Patti subdivision of Amritsar district. He had abandoned his school studies to receive a religious education at Dam Dami Taksal. The government viewed the Taksal as an active militant organization and the police regularly detained and tortured those who associated with it. Major Singh was also arrested a number of times and once he was charged with offences under TADA. Because the police had framed the case without any evidence, the court granted him bail after six months and then acquitted him altogether. However, the police continued to harass Major Singh, even requiring him to report to the police station every week. Major Singh was not able to tolerate these humiliations and decided to go underground and join the ranks of militants. The police then began to harass his family members.

Gurnam Singh, s/o Kartar Singh and Channan Kaur, was only a seventeen-year old boy from village Rasoolpur, post office Bhangala, in Patti subdivision of Amritsar district. He had joined the Dam Dami Taksal after completing his matriculation. While he was still at his school, the Valtoha police had arrested him a few times suspecting his links with the militant groups. He was also badly tortured. These experiences contributed to his decision to join the militant underground. The police started harassing his father and brothers.

On 16 July 1990, Major Singh, Gurnam Singh and two of their associates, Nachhatar Singh of Fatehgarh Sabhran village and Nishan Singh of Sherpur Saida village in Sultanpur Lodhi subdivision of Kapurthala district, were trapped in a police cordon laid by Harike police between Rooriwal and Chamba villages. They were killed in a real encounter, during which three policemen also died. The police took the dead bodies to Patti hospital for their postmortem and also wanted to carry out the cremations themselves. However, thousands of people, along with the family members of the killed boys, gathered at the hospital to demand the return of the dead bodies, and the police had to permit the family members to carry out the cremations.

The CBI’s list of identified cremations, however, shows only three cremations of Major Singh, Gurnam Singh and Nishan Singh, and shows that they were carried out by SHO Surinder Singh of Harike police station and not the family. The fourth cremation of Nachhatar Singh is recorded in the CBI’s partially identified list, under Sl. No. 14/208, with the same FIR No. His postmortem report is marked as SS-7/90.')"

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