Under Sl. Nos. 92/267, 93/268 and 94/270, the list identifies three cremations on 22 October 1990, carried out by Inspector Joginder Singh of Tarn Taran’s Sadar police station under FIR No. 94/90. They are of: [1] Mangal Singh, s/o Joginder Singh Jat, r/o Pakhoke, [2] Harbhej Singh, s/o Angrez Singh, r/o Dharar and [3] Gurvail Singh, s/o Joginder Singh, r/o Jawende. The postmortem reports are marked as KS 79/90, KS 80/90 and PS 89/90. The cause of death is given as “encounter”.

The Committee has the following information in the case of Harbhej Singh and Gurvel Singh through its Incident-Report Form Nos. CCDP/01508 and 01428. The main informants are Surjit Kaur and Gurbachan Kaur, the mothers of Harbhej Singh and Gurvel Singh, respectively.

Harbhej Singh was the son of Surjit Kaur and Ravel Singh – not Angrez Singh as the CBI’s list identifies his father’s name. They lived in village Dharar under Jandiala Guru police station in Amritsar district. Harbhej was the youngest of four brothers and had completed his graduation in 1989 from a college in Khadur Sahib. He had never been arrested before and, according to his father, had no dubious political or militant connections.

After obtaining his BA degree, Harbhej wanted to continue his studies. But for this purpose, he had to move to Amritsar city and the family was unable to spare enough money for the move. Ravel Singh then purchased some land at village Rajiwal and Harbhej began to cultivate it. On 20 October 1990, Harbhej Singh went to Rajiwal village to water his fields, but did not return home in the evening. Worried family members made inquiries with no success. On 23 October 1990, Ravel Singh heard that his son was one of the four alleged militants who had been killed in a reported encounter at village Dugari under Tarn Taran police station. Ravel Singh then went to Dugari village and talked to the people who had witnessed the encounter. He found out that the police had arrested four persons, including his son, from a house and tortured them brutally before killing them in a staged encounter.

Among the four was also Gurvel Singh, a 16-year-old boy from village Jawande Khurd, post office Baath, under Tarn Taran’s Sadar police station. Son of Joginder Singh and Gurbachan Kaur, Gurvel had passed his matriculation examination in 1990. While studying at the Government High School Baath, Gurvel met Balwinder Singh Fauji, an active militant, and probably began to help him deliver messages.

On 22 October 1990, Gurvel went to village Varana, also under Tarn Taran Sadar police station, possibly to meet some people known to Balwinder Singh Fauji. On reaching Varana, Gurvel discovered that the police were conducting a combing operation. Gurvel tried to leave, but the police arrested him. Later that evening, he was shown killed along with three others in an encounter orchestrated at village Dugari. On 23 and 24 October, the encounter was reported in two newspapers, Ajit and Jagbani. The police carried out the cremation without informing the parents. Others killed in the same encounter are: Mangal Singh of Pakhoke village, and Paramjit Singh of Kambo.

The CBI’s list of identified cremations shows only the names of Mangal Singh, Harbhej Singh and Gurvel Singh. Paramjit Singh’s cremation, carried out by the same Inspector under the same FIR No., has been recorded in the partially identified list, under Sl. No. 19/269, although all his particulars are easily available. Paramjit’s story is summarized in the appropriate section of the report.

Eighteen-year old Paramjit Singh, s/o Sadhu Singh and Surinder Kaur, was a Higher Secondary school student from village Kamoh, post office Maluwal, under Jhabbal police station, in Tarn Taran subdivision of Amritsar district. Paramjit had passed his matriculation examination earlier in the year from the Government Senior Secondary School at Naushehra Pannuan.

While at school, Paramjit, like Gurvel, had come in contact with some people connected with the underground armed resistance and had been attending political and religious meetings organized by them. He was a baptized Sikh. Paramjit felt outraged by the Indian army assault on the Golden Temple and the subsequent killing of more than 3000 Sikhs in the Delhi pogroms.

On 16 October 1990, Paramjit left his house but did not return home. His parents made inquiries but could not learn anything. On 22 October 1990, Sadhu Singh found out that his son Paramjit was one of the four alleged militants who had been killed in a reported encounter near village Dugari.

The next day, at Patti cremation ground, Sadhu Singh met the parents of all the others who been killed by the police in the same action. They had come there to collect the ashes of their sons, which they were able to do with help from the cremation ground attendants. According to Sadhu Singh, police had arrested and interrogated the boys before killing them because otherwise they would not have known their names and other particulars. ')"

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