45. Under Sl. No. 39/38, the list identifies a 08 October 1987 cremation carried out by Lopoke police station. The list does not show the FIR number. The postmortem report is marked as AKL/FM/120/87 and the cause of death is given to be "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/00740 reveals the following information about the cremation.
Major Singh, son of Darshan Singh and Kashmir Kaur, was a popular folk music singer resident of Sahoora village, Gandhe Dasiye Di Patti, under Lopoke police station in Ajnala subdivision of Amritsar district. He was 21-years old and unmarried.
The June 1984 Indian army assault on the Golden Temple made a deep impact on Major Singh's attitudes on life. He became an Amritdhari Sikh and began to compose religious and political songs of protest that expressed sentiments of the people's suffering under Indian repression. These songs extolled the spirit of struggle and martyrdom for freedom. Soon, Major Singh was much in demand to perform at religious and political functions and he formed his own group of singers and composers, known in Punjab as "Kavishri Jatha". The songs about State atrocities that the group composed and sang were especially popular and Major Singh soon became a marked man. The police and the CRPF officials repeatedly raided his house to arrest him. But Major Singh was mostly on the move, traveling to different places in Punjab together with his band.
On 14 September 1987, Major Singh and his group was going to perform in an annual popular fair at village Sahoora commemorating the bravery of sacrifice of a Sikh soldier Karaj Singh during India's 1965 war against Pakistan. Around 5 p.m., as Major Singh was going towards the fair, he was abducted by a large group of officers from Lopoke police station led by SHO Charanjit Singh, Assistant Sub-Inspectors Tarsem Kumar Sharma and Sham Singh. The police officials lifted him into a vehicle and went away to an unknown destination. The abduction was witnessed by a large number of village residents.
Early in the morning of 15 September 1987, Major Singh's family members, accompanied by the village elders, went to Lopoke police station where they were told that Major Singh was not detained there. The Commander of the CRPF unit at its center in Ajnala abused Major Singh's father and his companions when they went there to make inquiries and refused to give any information. The policemen outside the Mall Mandi Interrogation Center threatened to arrest all of them if they did not go away immediately. For the next three weeks, the family members and their sympathizers tried hard to locate Major Singh but failed to find out anything about his whereabouts.
Approximately three weeks after Major Singh's arrest, his father, together with two members of the village council, managed to meet SHO Charanjit Singh of Lopoke police station who acknowledged that Major Singh was in his custody and could be released on the payment of Rs. 800,000. Darshan Singh and his companions tried to explain to the SHO that they were a poor family and could not raise so much money. The SHO became very angry and asked them to go away and not come to him again without bringing the money.
On 9 October 1987, a Punjabi daily newspaper Jagbani published a report claiming that a militant Major Singh had been killed in an encounter with the CRPF at village Sahoora. SSP Izhar Alam briefed the press about the encounter claiming that Major Singh was an important leader of the militant underground and was wanted in connection with five cases of murder.
The police carried out the cremation without informing the family. Two months after the killing of Major Singh, SHO Charanjit Singh arrested his father Darshan Singh. The police brutally tortured him in illegally custody at Lopoke police station. The SHO threatened to kill him unless he stopped talking about his son's abduction and his arbitrary execution. Darshan Singh was released after he gave a written undertaking not to speak against the Punjab police.

46 - 49. Under Sl. Nos. 573/945, 574/946, 575/949 and 576/950, the list shows four cremations carried out by SHO Teg Bahadur Singh of Bikhiwind police station on 26 December 1992 under FIR No. 81/92. The postmortem reports are marked to be KS-117/92, KS-118/92, KS-119/92 and KS-120/92. The cause of death is listed as "firearm injuries".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/00751 reveals the following information about one of these cremations.
Thirty-five year old Sardul Singh, son of Puran Singh and Kesar Kaur, was a constable of the Punjab Armed Police and resident of Rahal Chahal village, post office Sangatpur, Rahal Patti, under Sirhali police station, in Khadur Sahib subdivision of Amritsar district. Sardul was married to Manjit Kaur and was the father of three daughters.
In 1987, Sardul was posted at the Headquarters of the Punjab Armed Police in Jalandhar when he was arrested on the charge of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate Reibiero, then Director General of Punjab Police. Sardul remained in Sangrur jail for three years until the court released him on bail.
Sardul opened a dairy farm and also became the Secretary of Verka Co-Operative Society. He used to attend his court hearings at Jalandhar regularly and the police never came to harass him at home.
In the first week of December 1992, a group of officers from Tarn Taran police station raided Sardul's house while he was out collecting his payments. The officers informed his family members that SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu wanted him to report to his office. The officers had not left any written instructions for Sardul and he chose to ignore the message. Two weeks later, the same group of officers raided his house and, not finding Sardul, they took his wife Manjit Kaur into their custody. Manjit Kaur was kept at Tarn Taran police station for twelve days and then at Goindwal police station for six days. Then she was forced to stay at SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu's house for a night.
Sardul Singh negotiated his wife's release from illegal custody through Amrik Kaur of Amarkot village, a known police informer who worked closely with Ajit Singh Phoola, a Sikh sectarian leader who helped the Punjab police establishment. Manjit Kaur was asked to go to Ajit Singh Phoola and stay at his headquarters. Sardul Singh had to accept this to get his wife released from illegal custody.
After spending a night at Ajit Singh Sandhu's house, Manjit Kaur was brought to Ajit Singh Phoola's headquarters where she had to stay for two days. She then returned to her village. That night, Sardul managed to talk to her and requested her to raise some money to pay Ajit Singh Phoola for his release. Manjit Kaur managed to raise Rs. 14,000 within the next week. Sardul's brother came with the money to Phoola's residence and paid that amount to Amrik Kaur who had organized the deal to get Sardul's wife released. Amrik Kaur told Harbans Singh that his brother would get released the next day.
Early next morning, when Harbans Singh returned to Phoola's headquarters, he was told that Sardul had run away. Two days later, Harbans Singh received a message that his brother was being held at Khalra police station. Harbans Singh, along with his brother-in-law Mangal Singh, met SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu at his office in Tarn Taran and requested him to get Sardul Singh released. The SSP was abusive and asked Harbans to first get Gurbachan Singh Manochahal, a well-known leader of the militant underground, arrested. Harbans Singh pleaded abjectly and pointed out that Sardul had no connection with the militant underground. The SSP asked them to see him again after some days.
After the meeting with the SSP, Sardul's wife Manjit Kaur, together with her brother Mangal Singh, went to Khalra police station. SHO Suba Singh was not present and his subordinate, who sympathized with Sardul's situation, allowed them to meet. Sardul had been tortured severally. He was constantly trembling and unable to even stand on his legs. Sardul Singh asked his wife to do everything possible to get him out as soon as possible because he felt that his interrogators planned to kill him.
Early in the morning of 26 December 1992, Harbans Singh and Mangal Singh met SSP Ajit Singh again. The SSP asked them to go to Khalra police station to find out if Sardul was still there or not. Both of them immediately left for Khalra. On the way, they read a report in a Punjabi newspaper Jagbani claiming that four unidentified militants had been killed in an encounter with Bikhiwind police near Udhoke village the previous night. A photograph, published along with the report, showed Sardul as one of the unidentified militants killed in the encounter.
The police did not inform the family members of the cremation.

50 - 51. Under Sl. Nos. 431/672 and 432/673, the list shows two cremations carried out by the SHO of Goindwal police station on 04 May 1992 under FIR No. 39/92. The postmortem reports are marked as AK-16/92 and AK-17/92. The cause of death is given to be "firearm injuries".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/00754 reveals the following information about one of these cremations.
Sukhwant Singh alias Sukha, son of Kashmir Singh and Jasvir Kaur, was a twenty-one year old truck driver resident of Lohar village, Jauhal Dhahe Wala, Dana Mana Patti, under Sarhali police station in Khadur Sahib subdivision of Amritsar district. After completing his matriculation, Sukhwant had trained himself to be an electrician but failed to find a suitable job. His father, the main informant in this case, owned a truck and he advised Sukhwant to learn to drive a truck and help him in his transport business. Sukhwant, like his father, was an Amritdhari Sikh but did not have any political or militant associations. He had never been arrested or interrogated before this incident.
Early in the morning of 28 April 1992, around 5 a.m., Sukhwant accompanied his father to the market in Goindwal to find a transport assignment. First, they went to the Golden Temple in Amritsar and, after doing their prayers, they went to Goindwal where they had a conversation with the clerk of the truck drivers' Union who told them that they were not likely to get an assignment for the next two days. After finding this out, Sukhwant and his father started driving their truck towards their village. On the way, close to a railway crossing junction in Goindwal, the police had set up a check-post where they were stopped for a routine check. SHO Goindwal Surinderpal Singh was personally conducting the checking. The SHO became suspicious when he looked at Sukhwant who was wearing a saffron colored turban and also had his ceremonial dagger hanging across his shoulder. The SHO asked Kashmir Singh about his son's occupation. Kashmir Singh introduced his son to the police officer and told him that he was learning to be a truck driver. The SHO asked Sukhwant to get down from the truck, forced him into a police vehicle and took him away for his interrogation. Kashmir Singh implored the officer not to arrest his son, but he refused to let him go. Kashmir Singh noticed that the police jeep was going in the direction of Fatehabad.
Kashmir Singh went back to his village and narrated the incident to the village elders. Some hours later, Kasmir Singh, together with fifteen other elders and members of the village council, went to Goindwal police station and met SHO Surinderpal Singh who brazenly denied having arrested his son at the check-post. Kashmir Singh became very agitated and started crying. He accused the SHO of lying and pleaded with him to show him his son. SHO Surinderpal ordered Kashmir Singh and his companions to leave the police station.
On the 29th of April, Kashmir Singh and his wife Jasvir Kaur went to SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu's office at Tarn Taran. They had to wait outside his office for nearly six hours before they were let in around 5 p.m. Kashmir Singh narrated the sequence of events beginning with Sukhwant's arrest early in the morning of 28th of April at Goindwal. The SSP listened to them and then started abusing them. He said that Sukhwant was a militant and that he deserved to die. When Kashmir Singh fell at the SSP's feet, begging him not to kill his son, the SSP kicked him hard and ordered his bodyguards to throw them out of his office. When Kashmir Singh and Jasvir Kaur came out of the SSP's office and were crying, a policeman in plainclothes asked them to go to the CIA staff interrogation center and find out if their son was being detained there. They went to the CIA staff center and talked to a Head Constable on duty outside to let them meet their son. The Head Constable seemed to be a kind person, but he asked them to wait at a tea stall because some senior officials were about to come for an inspection. After some time, a fleet of cars came to the Interrogation Center and SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu himself got down from a car and went inside. Kashmir Singh and Jasvir Kaur went back to the Head Constable when the SSP, after spending three hours inside, left. Kashmir Singh gave Rs. 500/- to the Head Constable who took them to the lock up where Sukhwant was lying on the floor. Sukhwant was unable to stand up and started crying. Kashmir Singh told him to keep strong and promised to do everything possible to get him out. The Head Constable did not want them to stay inside for long and asked them not to disclose the meeting he had allowed to anyone.
Kashmir Singh was unable to do anything to get his son released from the illegal custody. On 4 May 1992, a newspaper published a report about the killing of his son Sukhwant Singh together with another unidentified militant in an enounter with Tarn Taran police.
The cremation was carried out without the family's knowledge.

52. Under Sl. No. 36/39, the list identifies a 11 August 1987 cremation carried out by Gharinda police. The list does not show the FIR number. The postmortem report is said to be "not available". The cause of death is given to be "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/00755 reveals the following information about this cremation.
Twenty-four year old Ajmer Singh, son of Gurmukh Singh and Hardip Kaur, was a resident of Bhuchar Khurd village, post office Bhuchar Kalan, under Jhabbal police station in Amritsar district. Ajmer's family of Amritdhari Sikhs had a long history of association with Dam Dami Taksal, the religious seminary once headed by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. After completing his matriculation, Ajmer gave up his formal education and joined the seminary to study the Sikh religious literature with the intention of becoming a missionary. According to his mother Hardip Kaur, the main informant in this case, Ajmer had no connection with any political or militant group and had never been arrested or interrogated before this incident.
On 08 August 1987, Ajmer, along with another student of Dam Dami Taksal, went to the Golden Temple at Amritsar. They made their prayers and were going on a rickshaw to catch a return bus to Chowk Mehta when a group of armed policemen fired on the two boys. It is possible that the policemen became suspicious when they saw two baptized young Sikhs in their traditional dress and mistook them to be militants. Ajmer's companion in the rickshaw was hit by a bullet and he fell down dead. Ajmer panicked and tried to run away, but was nabbed near Ram Bagh. The police took him away for interrogation. A boy from Malhian village who knew Ajmer and was his companion at Dam Dami Taksal witnessed the entire episode.
On 11 August 1987, several Punjabi newspapers reported an encounter between a group of militants and officers of Gharinda police station in Amritsar that supposedly occurred very close to the police station. The report said that Ajmer Singh and two others were killed while some others militants managed to escape. The report published the names of all three persons.
The police carried out the cremation without informing the families. Surprisingly, the CBI's list of unidentified cremations shows only one cremation carried out by Gharinda police on 11 August 1987. It was a common practice in this period for the police to burn more than one body on a single pyre.

53 - 54. Under Sl. Nos. 110/86 and 112/87, the list shows two cremations carried out by Majitha police station on 28 August 1989. The list does not show the FIR number or the postmortem reports numbers. The cause of death is given as "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/00775 reveals the following information about these cremations.
Eighteen-year old Lal Singh alias Laadi, son of Apar Singh and Pooran Kaur, was a resident of Kotla Gujjaran village, under Majitha police station in Amritsar district. He was unmarried and lived with his parents. According to Apar Singh, the main informant in this case, his son had no involvement with the militant movement and had never been arrested or questioned in connection with any criminal offence.
On 27 August 1989, a group of officers from Majitha police station, led by DSP Paramjit Singh Gill and SHO Surinder Singh Sood, raided Apar Singh's house and arrested his son Lal Singh. The arrest was witnessed by a large number of village residents because another young Sikh of the village, Balraj Singh alias Tota, son of Sukhdev Singh, had already been taken into custody. Apar Singh tried to find out why his son was being arrested and told the officers that he had no connection with anything unlawful. The officers did not respond and took their prisoners away.
The police killed both Lal Singh and Balraj Singh in an encounter faked the same night. The police carried out their cremations without informing the families.

55 - 57. Under Sl. Nos. 617/1059, 618/1060, 619/1061, the list shows three cremations carried out by SHO Govinder Singh of Patti police station on 18 August 1993 under FIR No. 57/93. The postmortem reports are all marked as 18.8.93 and the cause of death is given to be "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/00813 reveals the following information about these cremations.
Fifty-four year old Charan Singh, popularly known as Babaji, son of Banta Singh and Gurnam Kaur, was a known Sikh religious leader resident of village Pandori Rumana, post office Takhat Mal, Jhabbal police station, in Tarn Taran subdivision of Amritsar district. He was married to Surjit Kaur and had five adult children. Charan Singh devoted his time to organizing voluntary labor and donations for the repair and maintenance of the historical Sikh shrines in Punjab.
The police had detained and interrogated Charan Singh on two or three occasions in the past. But they had not brought any formal charges against him.
In the beginning of 1993, Charan Singh received information from some of his influential friends that SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu was determined to eliminate him. Charan Singh knew Sandhu to be a ruthless man. He also knew about his weakness for money. Charan Singh got in touch with Mahant Sewa Dass, an influential Sikh leader in Delhi who was known to be very close to the police establishment in Punjab. Sewa Das demanded Rs. 850,000/- to save his life and Charan Singh paid him the money.
On 23 April 1993, Sewa Das deputed his representative Surinder Singh of village Sarai Naga in Faridkot district to accompany Charan Singh to SSP Sandhu's office in his car. They were on the way when a group of officers from Tarn Taran in a jeep, led by Inspector Suba Singh, intercepted Charan Singh's car near village Deenpur and took him to an unknown destination.
The police officials knew that Charan Singh's organization was very rich. They kept him in illegal custody for nearly three months and forced him to surrender large amounts of money belonging to his organization. In early July 1993, DSP Narang Singh went with Charan Singh to the Sahni branch of the Bank of Baroda where he kept the money belonging to his organization. Charan Singh was forced to withdraw a large amount of money, which was then distributed to senior police officials of the district.
Towards the end of July 1993, Charan Singh's wife Surjit Kaur was allowed to meet her husband briefly at the police post in village Kairon.
In the night intervening the 17th and 18th of August 1989, Charan Singh was killed, along with two others, in an encounter faked at village Kairon. Six other close relatives of Charan Singh have also been abducted and disappeared by the Punjab police at different occasions in the period of unrest in the State. A judicial inquiry ordered by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in a habeas corpus petition filed by the family, established these facts but failed to identify the responsible officials.

58. Under Sl. No. 609/339, the list identifies a 23 May 1993 cremation carried out by Jhander police station. The FIR number is not given. The postmortem report is marked as AST/FM/8/93. The cause of death is given to be "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/00821 reveals the following information about the cremation.
Parjinder Singh alias Bittu, son of Parminder Singh and Gurcharan Kaur, was a 28-year old farmer resident of Sehnsra Kalan village, under Jhander police station, in Ajnala subdivision of Amritsar district. He was married to Surinder Kaur and had two young children. According to his widow Surinder Kaur, the main informant in this case, Parjinder was not associated with any political or militant group. However, because his house was located a little outside the village next to his farm land, some armed men who represented themselves as militants used to come to the house and ask for shelter and food. Parjinder was not in a position to refuse them. The local police arrested Parjinder a number of times and tortured him in illegal custody to interrogate him about the persons visiting him. The officials demanded money and threatened to implicate him in terrorist crimes if he refused. Because Parjinder did not have large amounts of money to pay, the police incriminated him in a case under TADA and sent him to jail.
After spending nearly one and a half years in jail, Parjinder received a bail order and came out of jail on 13 January 1990. But the police officials continued to harass him, detaining him and his wife and torturing them even when they had no information to offer. The whole exercise seemed geared to extort bribes, which they were not in a position to pay. Parjinder was finally fed up and decided to leave Punjab. He together with his wife and their young children moved to Tamil Nadu State in the extreme South of India. There in a city called Salem, Parjinder found work in a hotel and the family spent the next one and a half years in peace.
On 10 May 1993, a group of Punjab police officers, led by ASI Partap Singh of Jhander police station, raided the hotel in Salem where Partap Singh worked and took him into custody. ASI Pratap Singh told his wife Surinder Kaur that unless she paid him Rs. 100,000/-, her husband would not live. He asked her to return to Punjab immediately, by air, and to arrange for the money before the police officials returned to Punjab in a train. On 11 May 1993, ASI Partap Singh and his team of police officials, along with prisoner Parjinder Singh, boarded a train to Ambala. Surinder Kaur and her children returned to Delhi on an Indian Airlines flight and then took a train to Amritsar.
Immediately after returning to Amritsar, Surinder Kaur met SHO Wassan Singh of Jhander police station who repeated the demand made by ASI Partap Singh to either pay Rs. 100,000/ or risk her husband's death. Surinder Kaur immediately mortgaged her husband's agricultural land and collected Rs. 100,000/, which she paid to SHO Wassan Singh. The payment was made on 19 May 1993. Surinder Kaur was allowed to meet with her husband in the police lock up. SHO Wassan Singh said that Parjinder Singh would be released after they had completed some legal formalities on 24 May 1993 morning.
Parjinder was killed in an encounter faked by Jhander police in the night between 22nd and 23rd of May 1993. Several newspapers prominently reported the encounter and identified Parjinder Singh by his name and the village of his residence. SHO Wassan Singh told Surinder Kaur that he would wipe out her entire family if she talked to anyone about having paid him the money.
The police carried out the cremation without informing the family members. The CBI too placed the cremation in its unidentified list even though the newspapers had published his name and his village.
Surinder Kaur has not been able to redeem the mortgage. She supports her children by doing some embroidery work at home.

59 - 61. Under Sl. Nos. 119/150, 120/151 and 122/153, the list shows three cremations carried out by ASI Kashmir Singh of 'D' Division police station in Amritsar on 15 February 1991 under FIR No. 43/91. The postmortem reports are marked to be "not available" and the cause of death is given as "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form Nos. CCDP/00822 and 00830 reveal the following information about these cremations.
Twenty-two year old Kanwaljit Singh alias Lada, son of Joginder Singh and Nirmal Kaur, was an assistant in a Medical Laboratory and resident of House No. 7, Ramsar road, under 'B' Division police station, in Amritsar city. He was unmarried and lived with his parents. His grandfather Amar Singh is the main informant in this case.
Mohinderpal Singh alias Bobby was a close friend of Kanwaljit. Twenty-one year old Mohinderpal, son of Manjit Singh and Balbir Kaur, was a tailor by profession and lived at House Number 1334/III-21, Gali Jeevan Mal, Chowk Baba Bhauri Wala, under 'B' Division police station in Amritsar city. Mohinderpal also was unmarried.
On 14 February 1992, around 1 p.m., Kanwaljit and Mohinderpal were going on a rickshaw to play badminton when they were abducted by a group of officers from 'B' Division police station, led by its SHO. Some hours later, the police officers, along with Kanwaljit and Mohinderpal, went to Kanwaljit's parents' house and searched it thoroughly for possible weapons. In the course of the search, the SHO manhandled Kanwaljit's mother. The search did not yield anything incriminating, but both Kanwaljit and Mohinderpal were taken away for further interrogation. Many residents of the area witnessed the search operations. They also saw both boys in police custody. They had already been tortured severely and were bleeding.
On 15 February 1992, two newspapers Ajit and Jagbani carried a report about a supposedly major encounter when eight militants engaged the Punjab police in an exchange of fire. The report said that three militants were killed, but five escaped. Another report published in the same newspapers the next day identified both Kanwaljit Singh and Mohinderpal Singh by their names as two of the militants who the police had killed.
The police did not inform the families about the cremations. However, a police constable from 'B' Division police station helped them collect the ashes from Durgiana Mandir cremation ground. In these two cases, the Municipal Corporation of Amritsar even issued death certificates of Kanwaljit and Mohinderpal to their parents. But the CBI has placed their cremations in its unidentified list.

62 - 63. Under Sl. Nos. 554/ 904 and 555/905, the list shows two 07 November 1992 cremations carried out by Sub-Inspector Sita Ram of Patti police station under FIR No. 67/92. One postmortem report is marked as KS-96/92 and the cause of death is given to be "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/00823 reveals the following information about the cremation.
Eighteen-year old Balwinder Singh, son of Dalip Singh and Swaran Kaur, was a resident of village Kalu Dian Jhugian, post office Bhangala, Kehtan Di Behak, under Valtoha police station in Patti subdivision of Amritsar district. After completing his matriculation, Balwinder chose to work for a Sikh missionary organization at Amritsar called Pingalwara that was devoted to the care and service of physically disabled and mentally handicapped persons in Punjab. Balwinder was not married and his mother Swaran Kaur is the main informant in this case.
Twice in 1984, the police had illegally detained and tortured Balwinder under interrogation. According to Swaran Kaur, Balwinder was not involved with any militant group in Punjab. Balwinder was arrested again in October 1992 by SHO Gurinder Singh of Valtoha police station three weeks before his terminal abduction. He was tortured very badly in police custody and told to leave the village if he wanted to save his life. According to Swaran Kaur, the SHO did this at the instigation of a person from village Saran Valtoha who had an established criminal background and wanted to usurp her family land. She thinks that the SHO had been bribed.
Early in the morning of 1 November 1992, around 4 a.m., SHO Gurinder Singh of Valtoha police station and ASI Nirmal Singh of Sabhrawan police post raided Balwinder's house at Preet Nagar in Amritsar. Balwinder had already sold much of his agricultural land with the intention of leaving his village permanently. He had been negotiating the purchase of a plot of land in Amritsar where he wanted to build a house and for this purpose he had sold his agricultural land in the village. The police officers who raided the house on 1 November 1992 rummaged through the house and Swaran Kaur later discovered that the money that Balwinder had received for his land was missing. The police officials had stolen it. The police officials took both Balwinder and his brother Avatar Singh into custody and took them to Valtoha police station. Swaran Kaur met both of them at Valtoha police station on 06 November 1992. That afternoon, the police released Balwinder's brother Avtar Singh.
Balwinder was killed in the night between the 6th and 7th of November 1992. Swaran Kaur identified the dead body of her son before its postmortem examination at Patti hospital. But the CBI has placed his cremation in its unidentified list.

64 - 66. Under Sl. Nos. 476/762, 477/763 and 478/764, the list identifies three cremations carried out by Subha Singh of Voltoha police station on 14 July 1992 under FIR No. 34/92. All three postmortem reports are marked as 14.7.92 and the cause of death is mentioned to be "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form Nos. CCDP/00825 reveals the following information about two of these cremations.
Fifty-four year old Jaswant Singh, son of Isar Singh and Sham Kaur, was a farmer resident of village Bhaini Bhajan Singh in Patti subdivision of Amritsar district. He was married to Amrik Kaur, the main informant in this case.
Jaswant's house was in the outskirts of the village next to his agricultural farm. Given its isolation, members of the militant underground came to take shelter and food. Jaswant Singh had no way to refuse these armed groups since the security forces were conspicuously absent at nights. Jaswant had been arrested and tortured severely by the Patti police. His interrogators accused him of keeping weapons for the militants and threatened to kill him unless he paid Rs. 50,000/. Jaswant had escaped getting killed by the police by paying this money in early June 1991.
Early in the morning of 13 July 1991, around 5 or 6 a.m., Jaswant Singh was leaving his farmhouse on his bicycle to go to Patti to sell milk when a group of officers from Patti, led by DSP Sukhdev Singh Brar, in a jeep came to the house, pulled him down from the bicycle and started beating him up. Another young man Jaspal Singh from Ghariala village in Patti subdivision who was coming towards Jaswant's house on his bicycle was also taken into custody. Policemen first beat him up with rifle butts. Both Jaswant and Jaspal were bleeding when the policemen threw their bicycles on the roadside, pushed them into a vehicle and drove away with them. Jaswant's wife Amrik Kaur realized that her husband was being attacked and kidnapped by uniformed policemen and came running towards them. By then the policemen had left.
As Jaswant's farm house is located only two kilometers from Patti police station, Amrik Kaur immediately went there. Soon after reaching Patti police station, Jaswant and Jaspal were shifted to the temporary headquarters of the CRPF that had been established at the ITI, the Industrial Training Institute, in Patti. Amrik Kaur, too, followed them to ITI. She was not allowed to enter and she waited outside the main gate.
Many hours later, Amrik Kaur saw a police vehicle leave the ITI building. Her husband Jaswant and the other other young man from Ghariyala village Jaspal Singh were sitting in the vehicle. The police killed both of them in an alleged armed encounter the same night.
The police carried out the cremations without informing the family members. Surprisingly, the postmortem report, which Amrik Kaur managed to see, identifies both Jaswant Singh and Jaspal Singh by their names. She also claims to have seen the photographs of their dead bodies annexed with the report. Yet, the CBI has placed their cremations in its unidentified list.

67 - 69. Under Sl. Nos. 229/180, 230/181 and 231/182, the list shows three cremations carried out by the SHO of Jandiala police station on 23 February 1991 under FIR No. 56/91. The postmortem reports are marked as 192/23.02.1991, 193/23.02.1991, 194/23.02.1991. The cause of death is given as "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/00828 reveals the following information about one of these cremations.
Twenty-four year old Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggi, son of Joginder Singh and Harjinder Singh, was a resident of village Pandori Ramana, post office Pandori Takhat Mal, under Jhabbal police station in Tarn Taran subdivision of Amritsar district. Jagdeep had completed his High Secondary School education and had started a small flourmill in Amritsar city. His mill was small and two machines pounded food grains into fine flour for domestic use. Jagdeep had to take a loan of Rs. 40,000/ to establish the business. His income was reasonably good and he hoped to pay back the loan within a reasonable period of time. He often slept in his flour mill and visited his parents in the village only at weekends.
Jagdeep was an Amritdhari Sikh, and according to his mother Harjinder Kaur, the main informant in this case, he had no association with any political or militant group. His elder brother Jasbir Singh, a member of the Sikh Students Federation, had been arrested and disappeared by Amritsar's 'B' Division police station in April 1988. Since then Jagdeep kept assiduously aloof from all political activities. He had been picked up illegally only once for interrogation by Patti police station. Jagdeep was unmarried.
Jagdeep's parents began to get worried when Jagdeep did not come to see them consecutively for two weekends in February 1991. In the last week of February, they went to Amritsar to make inquiries and found out that their son had been abducted by officers of Jandiala Guru police station and killed in an encounter staged near Chhote Raipur village under Majitha police district. The family members approached some influential persons of their village to talk to the SHO to obtain the truth. The SHO told them that Jagdeep and two other militants had indeed been killed in the encounter. They also saw copies of Ajit and Jagbani newspapers published on 24 February, which carried a report on the encounter killing of three unidentified militants.
The police carried out the cremations without informing the family members.
The police officials had also carried away all the valuable equipment in his flour mill.

70. Under Sl. No. 103/80, the list shows a 15 August 1989 cremation carried out by Head Constable Harcharan Singh of Lopoke police station. The list does not show the FIR number and makes no reference to the postmortem report. The cause of death is given as "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident Report Form No. CCDP/00835 reveals the following information about this cremation.
Twenty-five year old Gurdev Singh alias Deba, son of Balbir Singh and Sawinder Kaur, was a resident of House No. 30, Guru Ram Das Nagar, opposite Railway Colony No. 4 under Kot Khalsa police station in Amritsar city. After completing his matriculation, Gurdev was employed as a cleaner on a truck belonging to the local agency of Thums-Up, a popular soft drink. The only child of Balbir Singh and Sawinder Kaur, Gurdev was married to Jaswant Kaur. His father Balbir Singh, the main informant in this case, was a mechanic employed by the Indian Railways at Amritsar. Gurdev had no connection with the militant or political movements. He had never been arrested by the police before this incident.
On 14 August 1989 morning, Gurdev went out to work but did not come back home at night. The next day, Balbir Singh approached his relative Jassa Singh, then a Head Constable at Ram Bagh police station in Amritsar, and requested him to trace his son. Jassa Singh talked to DSP Gurmail Singh and informed Balbir Singh that the police had arrested some young Sikhs in the city from the apprehension that they might create trouble on India's Independence Day, the 15th of August. Jassa Singh said that all arrested persons would be released within two or three days and that Balbir Singh should not worry about the matter.
Balbir Singh and his wife were, however, worried and tried to meet SSP Anil Kumar Sharma and DSP Gurmail Singh. But the officers were all busy in supervising security duties and they could not meet them. Balbir Singh then sent telegrams to the Governor of Punjab and the Prime Minister of India informing them about his son's disappearance and requesting them to order an investigation to trace him. His telegrams remained unacknowledged.
Two days later, one of Balbir Singh's colleagues at the railway workshop told him that his own younger brother Lakha Singh too had been arrested on the 14th of August, and that he was released from custody the following day after the conclusion of the official Independence celebrations. Balbir Singh then met Lakha Singh and talked to him about his experience. Lakha Singh told him that he and Gurdev Singh had been picked up from a market in Amritsar and were held together for a short while at Mal Mandi Interrogation Center and questioned under torture. Later, the police separated both of them and Lakha Singh did not know what happened to Gurdev.
After talking to Lakha Singh, Balbir Singh went to various police stations in Amritsar and the neighboring districts to inquire about his son. But he failed to find out anything. Two months later, he discovered a report about an encounter, staged under Lopoke police station in the night between the 14th and 15th of August, in which three young Sikh militants were allegedly killed. Balbir Singh got in touch with Jassa Singh, the policeman who was his relative, and they went to Lopoke police station to make inquiries. After much persuasion, a Sub-Inspector at Lopoke police station showed Balbir Singh a bundle of clothes that had belonged to the boys who had been killed in that encounter. Balbir recognized his son's clothes. He could not find out how and why his son was eliminated in a faked encounter. He also found out that one of the persons killed along with Gurdev Singh that night was Kulwant Singh, son of Shingara Singh, from Fatehgarh Churian village in Gurdaspur district. According to Balbir Singh, his son had absolutely no connection with this person and did not even know him. The CBI succeeded in identifying Kulwant Singh's cremation and has included it in its list of identified cremations under Sl. No. 101/7. This cremation too was carried out by Head Constable Harcharan Singh.

71 - 72. Under Sl. Nos. 42/90 and 43/91, the list shows two 24 June 1989 cremations carried out by SHO Surinder Singh of Tarn Taran's Sadar police station under FIR No. 48/89. The postmortem report numbers are PS-22/89 and PS-21/89. The cause of death is given as "firearm injuries".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01078 reveals the following information about these cremations. Dara Singh, father of Mehal Singh, is the main informant in these cases.
Sixteen year old Mehal Singh alias Chhotu, son of Dara Singh, was a resident of village Pandori Gola, under Tarn Taran's police station, in Tarn Taran subdivision of Amritsar district. Dara Singh's ancestral village was in Jauhal Raju Singh Wala, but he had lived for over 30 years in his in-laws' village Pandori Gola. Dara Singh's father Saudagar Singh had served in the army both under the British and after independence. Dara Singh had three brothers; two who also served in the army have died. Dara Singh participated in the political programs of the Akali Dal, although he was not an active member. Dara Singh had four sons and two daughters.
Mehal Singh had studied until the 7th class, and then started working as an apprentice at the Tractor Repair Workshop of Malook Singh. Mehal worked there under training for a period of about two years, until he was abducted. He would go to work in the morning and return every day in the evening.
On the night of 17 to 18 June 1989 at about 12.30 a.m., a large police party from Tarn Taran's City police station and the CRPF, led by DSP Sita Ram and Inspector Sukhchain Singh, raided Dara Singh's house by scaling the walls. Some policemen also climbed onto the roof. Because it was summer, the family was asleep in the courtyard. The police woke them up and started beating the men with sticks, slaps and kicks. The police made Dara Singh and his sons Gurmel Singh, Harmel Singh and Nirvair Singh sit outside the house facing the wall. The police took Mehal Singh to one side. For 20 minutes the family could hear Mehal Singh shrieking.
In the meantime the police searched the house, including trunks and other storage boxes. The police stole two watches during the search. After about half an hour, the police made all of them walk up to the road where seven to eight police vehicles had been parked and the police and CRPF personnel were present in large numbers. All of them were placed in vehicles. After some time, the police brought Dilbagh Singh s/o Ram Singh, also a resident of Pandori Gola, and made him sit in a vehicle. Leaving some CRPF men at the house, the police took all of them to Tarn Taran's City police station.
At Tarn Taran police station, the police made Dara Singh, Gurmel Singh, Harmel Singh and Nirvair Singh sit on the verandah while they thrashed Mehal Singh with 'lathis' (sticks) under the supervision of DSP Sita Ram and Inspector Sukhchain Singh. They were all detained at Tarn Taran that night and in the morning at 5 a.m., they were taken to CIA Staff Tarn Taran. Immediately on arriving there, while Dara Singh and his older sons were separated on one side, the police began to torture Mehal Singh under the supervision of Inspector Gurdev Singh. The police tied Mehal Singh's arms behind his back and then suspended him from the ceiling by his arms, for half an hour at a time. He cried in pain. Then the police would lower him to the ground, untie his arms, and interrogate him. In the meantime, the police put Dara Singh, Gurmel Singh, Harmel Singh and Nivair Singh in a Gypsy van with some policemen and took them back to Tarn Taran's City police station. On 19 June 1989, the police released all four of them and they returned home.
From 20 June on, Dara Singh and eminent people of the area met the SSP of Tarn Taran and DSP Sita Ram several times to try and secure Mehal Singh's release. During these meetings Bachan Singh, resident of village Jauhal Raju Singh, also accompanied them because a police party led by DSP Sita Ram had picked up his son Charhat Singh on 18 June at 4 a.m. from their house. When Dara Singh and Bachan Singh met the SSP of Tarn Taran, he told them that he would not release their sons Mehal Singh and Charhat Singh because both of them were militants. And when they approached DSP Sita Ram, he flatly denied custody of both boys. Each day Dara Singh and Bachan Singh would go and sit outside the gates of CIA Staff Tarn Taran and return home dejected in the evening.
Dara Singh told the Investigation Team that he and Bachan Singh would keep track of the dead bodies the police brought for postmortems to the hospital and the cremation ground. On 24 June 1989 the police brought two dead bodies to the hospital. However Dara Singh and Bachan Singh did not see those bodies, but by inquiring from the doctor who gave them a description of the clothes on the bodies and others, it became apparent that these were indeed bodies of Mehal Singh and Charhat Singh. Despite any uncertainty, Mehal Singh's family performed his last rites on 24 June 1989, assuming that to be the day of his death.
The police did not give any official information to the families about the deaths of Mehal Singh and Charhat Singh. Mehal Singh's brother Gurmel Singh was allegedly killed in an encounter with the Haryana police in Ambala district on 11 July 1990.
Dara Singh submitted a claim for compensation for the death of Mehal Singh to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in response to their public notice of 22 January 1999.