73 - 74. Under Sl. Nos. 320/231 and 321/232, the list shows two 25 October 1991 cremations carried out by the ASI of Beas police station under FIR No. 185/91. The postmortem report numbers are marked as SPG/FM/189/91 and SPG/FM/191/91. The cause of death is given as "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01113 reveals the following information in these cases. Dilbagh Singh's father Pooran Singh, a retired Junior Commissioned Officer of the Indian army, is the main informant in this case.
Dilbagh Singh alias Baga, son of Pooran Singh and Jagir Kaur, resident of village Devidas Pur, Mehlan Wale, under Jandiala Guru police station in Amritsar district, was a thirty-seven year old graduate working for a private firm at Bombay. He was married to Manjit Kaur, a school teacher, and was the father of two daughters who are now 17 and 15 and two younger sons, now 14 and 11. The family is well known and respected in the area because one of the ancestors, Baba Jwala Singh, had held an important political position under the reign of Ranjit Singh, the powerful Sikh State annexed to British India in 1849, and had received the right over the revenue of Devidaspur village.
Dilbagh had gone to Bombay to work for a private firm after obtaining his college degree in 1978. Later, in partnership with another person, he also started a restaurant specializing in Punjabi food. In 1981, Dilbagh got married to Manjit Kaur. In 1987, Manjit Kaur and her four children returned to her husband's village and Dilbagh, who continued to live in Bombay for livelihood, began to visit them frequently.
Once in 1989, Amritsar's CIA staff arrested Dilbagh when he was visiting his family. They detained him illegally for 14 days and brutally tortured him. Then a newspaper report announced his death in a supposed police encounter. The report enraged the residents of his village so much so that, in large numbers, they surrounded the Jandiala Guru police station to demand the dead body. The demonstrators met Amritsar's SSP Anil Sharma who told them that Dilbagh Singh had not been killed and that he was under interrogation at the Mall Mandi Interrogation Center. Sharma promised to transfer him to Jandiala Guru police station.
Two days later, Pooran Singh met his son at the police station and saw that his physical condition, from custodial torture, was very critical. DSP Gurmel Singh Bai had carried out the torture. After some days, Dilbagh was implicated in a case under TADA and sent to Amritsar jail. He was released on bail three weeks later.
The Jandiala police continued to pick up Dilbagh after his release from jail and torture him in illegal custody. Dilbagh was finally fed up and left home to go underground. Dilbagh's wife, together with her children, moved to Ludhiana where she was selected as a teacher in a local school. She admitted her children in the same school. The Jandiala police began to pick up his father and other family members and torture them in illegal custody. Pooran Singh was also not allowed to cultivate his land.
On 23 October 1991, Dilbagh visited his children at their school at Rahon in Ludhiana district and then together with them, his wife Manjit Kaur and two of her colleagues, left for Jalandhar city in a car. On the way, all of them were taken into custody by a joint police force, comprising officers from Jalandhar, Amritsar, Banga and Nawanshahar police station. The police separated Dilbagh from the others and took him to some unknown place for interrogation. Manjit Kaur, her children and her colleagues were taken to a Jalandhar police station where they met Amarjit Singh Dehriwal in police custody.
In the night intervening the 24th and 25th of October 1991, Dilbagh Singh and Amarjit Singh of Dehriwal village were killed in an encounter faked by the Beas police station. Their dead bodies were brought to the Beas police station where some relatives of Amarjit Singh recognized them. Dilbagh's father, accompanied by members of the village council, met the SSP of Majitha police district to request him to return his son's dead body for a family cremation. The SSP only allowed him and other family members to attend the cremation at the Durgiana Mandir cremation ground. The police also obtained his signatures on some blank papers. Surprisingly, the police performed the cremations of Dilbagh Singh and Amarjit Singh Dehriwal by claiming that their bodies were unidentified.
The Jalandhar police held Manjit Kaur and her children in their custody until the 25th of October when they were dropped off at the town of Rayya. From there, Manjit Kaur went to her parental village where she found out about the killing of Dilbagh Singh and Amarjit Singh. Her family members were later able to collect Dilbagh's personal belongings, like his steel bangle, his golden ring and a chain, which had been confiscated at the time of his arrest from Nawanshehar police station. Dilbagh's widow Manjit Kaur continues to teach at the school in Rahon and her children too continue to study there.

75 - 76. Under Sl. Nos. 231/347 and 232/348, the list shows two 28 October 1992 cremations carried out by Sultanwind police station. There are no FIR numbers or postmortem report numbers. The cause of death is given as "bullet injuries".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01153 reveals the following information in one of these cases. The main informant is the victim's mother Surjit Kaur.
Eighteen-year old Pargat Singh alias Laati, son of Mangal Singh and Surjit Kaur, was a young agricultural worker in a poor Jat Sikh family from Sohian Kalan village, Uchchi Patti, under Majitha police station in Amritsar district. The youngest in the family with four brothers and sisters, Pargat Singh gave up school without completing his primary education and began to work as an agricultural laborer in peak seasons. He also worked in a cloth mill. He was unmarried. Pargat Singh did not have any association with the militant movement and had never been arrested or interrogated before his death.
In October 1992, Pargat Singh had been planning to attend the festival of Diwali at Anandpur Sahib, celebrated traditionally in the last two days of the dark half of the lunar cycle towards end of October or early November. The festival commemorates the founding of the Golden Temple at Amritsar and the release of the sixth Guru Hargovind in 1619 from his imprisonment under then Mughal rulers of India at Gwalior fort. The main celebration, with illumination of the temple with clay oil lamps and candles, was scheduled for 29 October. Two days before the event, Pargat Singh went to Amritsar to do some shopping, but did not return home. His family members assumed that he might have left for Anandpur Sahib directly from Amritsar.
A few days later, people in the village talked about an encounter near Boruwal in which Pargat Singh of Sohian Kalan and three others had been killed. Pargat's family members panicked and made inquiries. Some policemen residents of the village seemed to confirm the rumour. Others who had gone to Anandpur Sahib for the festival said they had not seen Pargat. Surjit Kaur then contacted the relatives of the other boys killed along with her son and found out that all of them had been arrested from a tea-stall in Sultanwind area of Amritsar.
The attendants of the Durgiana Mandir cremation ground told Surjit Kaur that the relatives of the other boys had already collected the ashes. Surjit Kaur could not remember the names and addresses of the others killed and cremated along with her son.
It is difficult to identify the corresponding cremations on the basis of the information that Surjit Kaur is able to provide. The CBI's list of identified cremation, under Sl. No. 349/61, shows that SHO Surinder Singh of Sultanwind cremated one Pratap Singh under FIR No. 42/92. Father's name given in the list is Charan Singh Khumiyar and the village is mentioned to be Pandori. That clearly is the case of Pratap Singh, son of Charan Singh from Pandori Mehma village discussed in the connected chapter as the CCDP's Incident-Report Form No. 01169. The list of unidentified cremations, under Sl. Nos. 230/345 and 231/347, shows two connected cremations carried out by the Sultanwind police on 28 October 1992. It is probable that one of these cremations includes the body of Pargat Singh.

77 - 79. Under Sl. Nos. 252/401, 253/402, and 254/403, the list shows three 5 May 1991 cremations carried out by the Inspector/SHO of Tarn Taran's City police station. There is no FIR No. The postmortem report numbers are PS-55/91, PS-56/91, and PS-57/91. The cause of death is given as "fire arm injuries".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form Nos. CCDP/01157 and 01158 reveal the following information about these cases. The main informants in these cases are Joginder Singh, father of Balwinder Singh, and Gurmeet Kaur, mother of Manjit Singh.
Twenty-five year old Balwinder Singh alias Billa, son of Joginder Singh and Kailash Kaur, was a young farmer resident of Bundala village, Lakhu Wala Khooh, Patti Masoor, under Jandiala Guru police station in Amritsar district. He was unmarried. Belonging to a poor family with seven brothers and sisters, Balwinder had abandoned school after the primary level to help his father with his agricultural work. According to Balwinder's father, the June 1984 army operation against the Golden Temple of Amritsar left a deep imprint on his mind, and Balwinder began to take interest in the politics of Sikh resistance that developed in the wake of the attack. The Jandiala Guru police became suspicious and started harassing him and his family members. Balwinder was arrested on two occasions and, following illegal detention and torture that lasted several days, the police implicated him in criminal cases and sent him to jail. The police continued to harass him each time he came out on bail, holding him in illegal detention and torturing him in custody. Balwinder continued to suffer these atrocities from the consciousness that by becoming a fugitive he would expose his family members to greater suffering.
Twenty-six year old Manjit Singh, son of Mohinder Singh and Gurmeet Kaur, from Bundala village, Patti Hindun Ki, Maliwala Khooh, under Jandiala Guru police station in Amritsar district, was a young unmarried farmer who had been arrested by the police in 1988 on the charge of sheltering militants. He remained in jail for 21 months and was released on bail at the beginning of 1990. Balwinder and Manjit were friends.
In the evening of the 9th or 10th of April 1991, around 4 p.m., Balwinder and Manjit, together with another resident of the village known as Billa, son of Ajit Singh, traveled together to Tarn Taran. On the way, near village Pakho Ke, a group of police officers, led by SP (Operations) Khubi Ram and SHO Major Singh of Tarn Taran's City police station, arrested them. The eyewitnesses to their arrest immediately informed the families. One of the witnesses who met the families was from Kadd Gill village. It was already very dark and the families were unable to take any action that night.
The next morning, the family members of all three boys went to Sadar police station and talked to the SHO who, however, denied having arrested them. They also met SP (Operations) Khubi Ram who refused to give any information. A relative of Manjit Singh, a Deputy Superintendent of the Border Security Force, tried to get some information from SP Khubi Ram. But he remained rough and taciturn.
The three boys have since disappeared. Nothing could be found out about their whereabouts and their fate. Joginder Singh and Manjit's mother Gurmeet Kaur believe that the police killed them in custody and got rid of their bodies after declaring them to be unidentified.
It is reasonable to suggest that these cremations recorded in the CBI's list indicate that Balwinder, Manjit and Billa were killed and their bodies disposed of as their families suspect they were.
Three months after this incident, Manjit's father Mohinder Singh was gunned down outside his house by some men in plainclothes. The police claimed that the Sikh militants committed the murder. However, the compensation customarily paid by the government to victims of militant violence was not given to Mohinder Singh's widow.

80. Under Sl. No. 250/378, the list shows one 26 June 1993 cremation carried out by SI Mohinder Singh of Amritsar's Sadar police under FIR No. 115/93. The postmortem report number is GM/FM-1155/93. The cause of death is given as "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01166 reveals the following information in this case. The victim's brother Harpal Singh is the main informant in the case.
Twenty-one year old Dilbagh Singh alias Baga, son of Bakhshish Singh and Kulwant Kaur, was a police constable resident of Nangali Naushehra village, Rabban Da Dera, under Sadar police station, in Amritsar district. Dilbagh was unmarried. Dilbagh had joined the Punjab police as a constable soon after passing his Higher Secondary School examination in 1991. Initially, he was posted in Gurdaspur district. Later, he was transferred to the Company Bagh Police Post in Amritsar city.
In the night intervening the 22nd and 23rd of June 1993, around 1 a.m., a large police force led by DSP Mohinder Singh Fauji and SHO Mohinder Singh Karikki of Sadar police station in Amritsar city raided Dilbagh Singh's house while he was on duty at his police post. The family members were surprised when the officers asked for Dilbagh and they told the officers that he was on night duty at the Company Bagh Police Post. The officers took his father Bakhshish Singh, his three brothers, and Dilbagh's cousin into custody and drove with them to the Company Bagh Police Post. All of the family members stayed in the police vehicle while the officers went out to arrest Dilbagh. They brought him out of the police post with his hands tied behind his back, pushed him into a separate vehicle and drove to Sadar police station. Dilbagh was locked up in a single cell. His family members were confined in a separate room.
Some hours later that same night, Dilbagh was taken out of the cell. His removal was witnessed by his father and other family members locked up in a different room. No officer came to interrogate them. On 28 June 1993, members of the village council intervened to get them released. While letting them out, SHO Mohinder Singh Karikki looked remorseful. He said: "You have suffered a great loss," indicating that Dilbagh had been killed.
According to Harpal Singh, his brother was not involved in any kind of militant or political activities and performed his duties as a policeman conscientiously. Dilbagh did not like to participate in operations that involved torturing and killing people. Some of his superiors interpreted his refusal to associate with special operations as a sign of sympathy for the militant cause. Dilbagh's two cousins, Rajinder Singh and Hardial Singh, sons of Ajit Singh from Nangali Naushera village in Amritsar district, had been involved with the militant underground. Although Dilbagh had no association with them, his superior officers always teased him about the relationship. The family does not know what happened to Rajinder Singh and Hardial Singh, who also disappeared.

81. Under Sl. No. 209/165, the list shows one 7 January 1991 cremation carried out by SI Rajinder Singh of Beas police station under a No. 6.1.1991. The postmortem report number is listed as GM/257/91 7.1.1991. The cause of death is given as "encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01179 reveals the following information in this case. The main informant is the victim's father Inder Singh, a retired army officer.
Nineteen-year old Gurjit Singh, son of Inder Singh and Gurmeet Kaur, was an electronic technician resident of village Thathian, post office Sathiala, near Gurdwara Kala Mehar, under Beas police station, in Baba Bakala subdivision of Amritsar district. After completing his Higher Secondary School examination, Gurjit joined a technical institute at Amritsar and obtained a diploma in repairing televisions and other electronic gadgets. He opened an electronic repair shop in the town of Baba Bakala, about one kilometer from his village. Gurjit had no involvement with the militant movement then raging in Punjab.
In the afternoon of 06 January 1991, Gurjit was resting at his house because it was Sunday and his shop was closed. Around 2 p.m., Kulwant Singh, son of Bachan Singh of Jalal Usman village, came to his house and requested Gurjit to accompany him to his village to repair his broken video player. Kulwant Singh had come on his scooter and promised to drop him off after the repair.
Gurjit collected his tools and went with Kulwant Singh. He did not come back home that night.
Inder Singh became worried and did not know what to do.
On 08 January 1991, Inder Singh received a message from a village resident Kulbir Singh saying that he had seen his son Gurjit's dead body at the Mall Mandi Interrogation Center in Amritsar. Immediately, Inder Singh went to village Jalal Usman and found out that Gurjit did not reach Kulwant Singh's house in the afternoon of 06 January. Inder Singh then went to Beas police station but the officers there denied having arrested him. Then he met the DSP of Baba Bakala who said that one young militant had been killed in an encounter with the CRPF that had taken place near village Thathian and asked him to come to identify his clothes at the Beas police station. Inder Singh went back to Beas police station and recognized the clothes belonging to his son. The police officers said that they did not know how he was actually killed as the body had been brought to the police station by the CRPF personnel.
A newspaper report that appeared on 08 January 1991 said that an unidentified militant committed suicide by consuming cyanide when surrounded by the police.
Inder Singh later found out that Gurjit and Kulwant Singh were arrested by a joint team of Punjab police officers and the CRPF who had set up a check post at village Dhardeo on 06 January 1991 when they were on their way to village Jalal Usman. They were immediately separated and sent to the Mall Mandi Interrogation Center in Amritsar. Kulwant Singh was released on 11 January 1991.
According to Inder Singh, his wife Gurmeet Kaur could not cope with the trauma of Gurjit's disappearance and the report of his death and became terminally ill. She died in February 2002.

82 - 83. Under Sl. Nos. 218/324 and 219/325, the list shows two 5 August 1992 cremations carried out by D Division police in Amritsar. There is no FIR number. The postmortem reports are labeled GM/FM/819/20 and GM/FM-820/92. The cause of death is given as "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01183 reveals the following information in these cases. The main informant is Satinder Singh's mother Manjit Kaur.
Sixteen-year old Satinder Singh alias Rinku, son of Gurbakhsh Singh and Manjit Kaur, was a welding mechanic resident of House No. 253, Gali No. 1, Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar under B division police station in Amritsar city. He was unmarried. Satinder was a clean-shaven Sikh and not particularly religious. His father was physically handicapped and used to drink heavily. Satinder worked to support the family.
Early in the morning of 7 July 1992, around 5 a.m., a large group of police officers, led by SHO Charan Das of B Division police station, raided Satinder's house and took him away in their custody. The arrest was witnessed by all members of the family. The morning of the next day, the same group of officers came back to the house for a search. Satinder was also with the police officials, but he was not allowed to talk to any one in the family. The police officials, along with Satinder, went away after confiscating all of the furniture and other valuable belongings in the house. While the search was in progress, Satinder was seen in police custody by many residents of the village. According to Manjit Kaur, the police also arrested Avtar Singh, son of Lakhbir Singh and a resident of Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar in Amritsar.
Two days later, a group of police constables came to the house again and took Manjit Kaur with them to B Division police station where SHO Charan Das showed her a pistol, allegedly recovered from her son. She also saw Satinder in the police lock-up.
For the next one month, Manjit Kaur daily went to B Division police station and talked to SHO Charan Das and his clerk Surinder Singh several times. The officers gave vague answers when she asked when they planned to release her son. After approximately one month, the SHO asked her to take back some of the household furniture that had been confiscated the day after Satinder's arrest. He also gave her Rs. 10 to hire a vehicle to return to her house along with her furniture. The SHO told her not to come back to the police station again. She did not know what happened to her son. Avtar Singh, arrested from his house a day after Satinder's abduction on 7 July 1992, also disappeared.
Nearly two years after the incident, two constables from Lahori Gate police station in Amritsar came to her house to make inquiries about various members of the family. They also told her informally that Satinder had been killed.

84. Under Sl. No. 369/251, the list shows one 21 March 1992 cremation carried out by ASI Amrik Singh of Mehta police station. There is no FIR number. The postmortem report is marked as GM/FM/678/92. The cause of death is given as "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01188 reveals the following information in this case. The main informant is the victim's father Gurbans Singh, former Head Constable of the Punjab Police.
Twenty-three year old Sarabjit Singh, son of Gurbans Singh and Harbhajan Kaur, was a former Punjab police constable resident of Wadala Kalan village, Mian Ki Patti, under Beas police station in Baba Bakala subdivision of Amritsar district. Sarabjit completed his Higher Secondary school examination and then joined the Punjab police as a constable. Posted in Gurdaspur district, Sarabjit was assigned the duty of a driver.
Within some months of joining the force, Sarabjit became very disturbed about what he saw of police brutalities. Being a driver, his duty required him to take the officers to various police stations in the district where he saw how young Sikhs held illegally were tortured under interrogation. He also witnessed several faked encounters. Sarabjit talked to his father about these experiences and told him that he could not bear to work for a police force that behaved so inhumanly with his fellow Sikhs. Both Sarabjit and his father resigned from the police service in February 1990.
According to Gurbans Singh, Sarabjit started developing contacts with members of the Sikh militant underground. The police found out and started raiding his house to arrest him. Sarabjit managed to dodge his arrest and left his house. The police illegally detained and brutally tortured his father and brothers at Mall Mandi Interrogation Center in Amritsar.
On 04 August 1990, Sarabjit was arrested from village Thathian and interrogated in illegal custody that lasted two weeks under terrible torture. He was then implicated in several criminal cases under TADA and sent to jail. Sarabjit obtained a bail order on 07 May 1991. Gurbans Singh met SSP Paramjit Singh and requested him to instruct his police force not to harass his son with illegal arrest and custodial torture and to let him and his family live in peace. The police continued to pick him up regularly for interrogation. But he was spared of torture.
On 19 March 1992, a group of officers from Mehta police station, led by ASI Ram Lubhaya and Sub-Inspector Gurdeep Singh, came to Sarabjit's house and took him away for an interrogation. These illegal arrests for interrogation had become fairly routine and Gurbans Singh had become somewhat used to them. He assumed that the police would release his son, as in the past, after some days of interrogation.
On 21 March 1992, several Punjab newspapers prominently carried a report to announce that a well-known militant Sarabjit Singh had been killed in an encounter near village Pallah. Gurbans Singh, accompanied by several village elders, went to Mehta police station and requested the officers to return the dead body for its cremation. But the officers refused. Gurbans Singh became very emotional but his rage had no impact. The police officials carried out the cremation at Durgiana Mandir cremtion ground.

85 - 90. Under Sl. Nos. 629/1973, 630/1074, 631/1075, 632/1076, 633/1077, and 634/1078, the list shows six 15 October 1993 cremations carried out by SHO Subha Singh of Verowal police station under FIR No. 61/93. The postmortem report numbers are PS-22/93, PK-23/93, PK-24/93, GSD-26/93, GSD-27/93, and PS-23/93. The cause of death for the first cremation is given as "police encounter," and the cause of death for the rest is "firearm injuries".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01200 reveals the following information in these cases. The main informant is Jagtar Singh's wife Sukhwinder Kaur.
Twenty-six year old Jagtar Singh alias Jagga, son of Bawa Singh and Bhajan Kaur, was a Mehra Sikh resident of village Tarsikka, Patti Watalian Di, under Mattewal police station, in Baba Bakala subdivision of Amritsar district. An Amritdhari Sikh, he worked for the Punjab government in a cooperative society. He was married to Sukhwinder Kaur and they had one son.
As a student, Jagtar Singh was a member of his school's chapter of the Sikh Students Federation. The police arrested him once and charged him with practicing sorcery. After his release, the police arrested him again, registered a case against him and sent him to Amritsar jail. After his acquittal a year later, the Punjab government gave him his job in the co-op society.
On 7 October 1993 at about 4 p.m., plain clothes armed policemen came to Jagtar Singh's house. Three knocked on his door, while another remained seated in their vehicle. When he identified himself to the police, one of the policemen kicked Jagtar Singh, causing him to drop the glass he was holding. The police forced Jagtar Singh and Balraj Singh, son of Bhajan Singh, who was sitting nearby, into their white Maruti car.
That evening, Jagtar Singh's father, accompanied by other people, met SHO Raghbir Singh Makhi at Mattewal police station. The SHO told them that the CIA Staff at Tarn Taran had taken away his son. They delegation then approached the CIA staff but did not receive any information.
Balraj Singh's family members managed to secure his release four days later. He told Jagtar Singh's family that they were separated from each other after reaching Tarn Taran. Jagtar Singh's family continued to persist in their attempts to secure Jagtar's release. Initially, the SSP and other police officers reassured them that they would release Jagtar Singh.
On 16 October, newspapers, relying on claims made by the SSP of Tarn Taran, Ranbir S. Khatra, reported that a militant Jagtar Singh Jagga was killed in the crossfire when militants attacked the police party taking him for the recovery of weapons at 4 a.m. The firing allegedly lasted for three hours. The police also killed all five unidentified militants who attacked the police party. The news reports fully identified Jagtar Singh, giving his name, his father's name, and his village.
A correspondent of Hindustan Times visited Jagtar Singh's house and then filed a report alleging that the encounter had been faked by the police. Other newspapers picked up on this incident.
The police did not inform Jagtar Singh's family about his death or return his body to them. Despite the police's full knowledge of Jagtar's identity, and the news reports fully identifying him, the CBI included his cremation in their list of unidentified cremations.

91 - 93. Under Sl. Nos. 596/331, 597/332 and 598/333, the list shows three 31 March 1993 cremations carried out by the Mehta police. There are no FIR numbers or postmortem report numbers. The cause of death is given as "police encounter".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01229 reveals the following information in these cases. Charan Kaur, the mother of Surjit Singh, is the main informant in these cases.
Surjit Singh, son of Dalip Singh and Charan Kaur, was an illiterate Mazhabi Sikh resident of village Kotli Dhole Shah, under Kathu Nangal police station, in subdivision and district Amritsar. He was married to Raji and they had a son and a daughter. Surjit Singh was the eldest among two brothers and four sisters. He worked as a labourer and did not have any political or militant background. He was a clean-shaven youth.
On 20 March 1993, a police party of Kathu Nangal police station, led by SHO Dilbagh Singh and Head Constable Kuldeep Singh, raided Surjit Singh's house. The police entered the house by scaling the walls and opened the door of the house. They woke up Surjit Singh who was sleeping with his young child and directed him to accompany them. On being asked by his parents as to why they were arresting and taking him away, the police said that they wanted to ask him the way to some place and that they would release him after that. The family continued to wait for Surjit Singh but he did not return home. The same police party arrested Preetam Singh s/o Udham Singh, Balwinder Singh s/o Ratan Singh, and Mukhtiar Singh Mukha of the same village during that night.
On the following day, the village Panchayat and the family members went to Kathu Nangal police station to pursue the cases of the arrested men. The SHO assured them that they would release them after interrogation. The families and the Panchayat continued to visit the police station daily. On the third or fourth day on 23 or 24 March, as the family members of the arrested men stood outside the police station, the police made the men sit in a vehicle. The police asked the family members to go home. Thereafter, whenever the family members used to enquire at the station, sometimes the police used to say that they had sent the detainees to Mall Mandi Interrogation Centre and at other times they used to say that they were lodged at Ram Bagh Police Station.
Balwinder Singh s/o Ratan Singh, Harbans Singh, resident of Ghaseetpura, Mangal Singh s/o Teja Singh, resident of Nangali Naushehra, and another man were shown by the Kathu Nangal Police as having been killed in an "encounter" near village Sehanewali on 29 March 1993. The CBI's list of partially identified cremations lists their cremations, with the fourth man partially identified as Jagtar Singh, s/o Dharam Singh, under Sl. Nos. 590/93, 591/94, 592/95, and 593/96. There are no FIR Nos. or postmortem report numbers. The cause of death is given as "police encounter".
On 30 March 1993, the Mehta Police reported that the police killed Surjit Singh and Preetam Singh, s/o Udham Singh, in an encounter near village Dandel under Mehta Police Station. The Punjabi daily newspaper Jagbani dated 1 April 1993 reported the killing of three militants the previous night in an encounter with the security forces near village Tanek (Dandel) under Mattewal police station. Two of them were identified as Preetam Singh s/o Udham Singh and Surjit Singh s/o Dalip Singh, both residents of Kotli Dhole Shah. The police recovered one double barrel gun, one 12 bore pistol, three watches, two rifles and electric motors from the site of the encounter. According to the Police, all three of them were robbers. These unidentified cremations probably represent the cremations of Surjit Singh, Preetam Singh, and Mukthiar Singh. Balwinder Singh's cremation already figures in the partially identified list.
The police did not hand over the bodies to their family members. After reading the news report, when the family members and other villagers enquired at Kathu Nangal police station, the police said they had already released them.

94. Under Sl. No. 399/619, the list shows one 22 January 1992 cremation carried out by Inspector Gurdev Singh, CIA Tarn Taran, of Sarhalli police station under FIR No. 9/92. The postmortem report number is PS-03/92. The cause of death is given as "firearm injuries".
The Committee's Incident-Report Form No. CCDP/01231 provides the following information in this case. The main informant is the victim's wife Jagir Kaur.
Forty year old Gulzar Singh, son of late Harnam Singh and late Phinno, was a Mazhabi Sikh resident of village Rataul, Mazhabian di Patti, under Tarn Taran's City police station, in Tarn Taran subdivision of Amritsar district. He was married to Jagir Kaur and they had two sons and a daughter. Gulzar Singh was a Naik in 2 Sikh Light Infantry. He did not have any links with political or militant activities. However, his younger brother, Dilbagh Singh had been arrested by the Police because they suspected he had links with militants and they had registered a case against him. Gulzar Singh, however, did not have any connection with the activities of Dilbagh Singh. Both brothers were married and used to live separately.
In April 1991, while Gulzar Singh was at home on leave, a large force of police and security forces surrounded the village. The police suspected that some militants were hiding inside the village. The police conducted a house to house search, including the house of Gulzar's brother Dilbagh Singh who was not at home then. As Gulzar Singh was his neighbour, the police asked him about his brother. Gulzar Singh replied that he did not know anything about him. On hearing this reply, the police started to beat Gulzar Singh, arrested him and took him away. They also put Gulzar Singh's house on fire, burning all of his household items. The police assembled all the men of the village at one place. In the meantime, the police arrested Gulzar Singh's brother Dilbagh Singh also from the fields.
Gulzar Singh sustained serious injuries on his head from the police beating. The police handed him over to the Dogra Regiment of the army, on field duty in the area of Tarn Taran. The army unit provided first aid to Gulzar Singh and sent him back to his unit at Jammu. His wife and children also accompanied him to Jammu where he was allotted a quarter. Gulzar Singh complained against the ill treatment meted out to him and the head injuries inflicted by the police to his Commanding Officer (CO). The CO wrote a letter of protest to the SSP of Tarn Taran. In reply, the SSP Tarn Taran wrote that they wanted Gulzar Singh, in connection with the murder of some police officers and that he be handed over to the police.
One day, an Army officer came to their quarter along with three to four Army Jawans and took Gulzar Singh along with them. After Gulzar Singh did not return for a month, his wife met the officer but did not receive any clear answers. Jagir Kaur waited for two months and when she ran out of money, she returned to the village. However, she was never told by anybody that the Army authorities had handed Gulzar Singh over to the Tarn Taran Police.
The family learned about this a long time after this incident when the Army authorities wrote in reply to their letters that Gulzar Singh had been handed over to the SSP of Tarn Taran. And the SSP Tarn Taran had intimated to Gulzar Singh's unit (Dogra Regiment) in Jammu by a letter dated 23 January 1992 that Gulzar Singh had escaped from their custody on 22 January 1992 while he was being taken to the Civil Hospital for treatment.
The Army authorities did not pay Gulzar Singh's service benefits to his family because the family could not produce proof of his death. In order to get justice in this matter, his family wrote letters to the Army authorities of 2 Sikh L.I. apart from Army Headquarters, the President of India and other senior officers. Nobody listened to them.
Gulzar Singh's wife is illiterate. She was able to take some action in this matter only with the help provided by some of the relatives of her family who are retired from the Army. She was making both ends meet by doing menial jobs. There was no money to pursue the case. Other family members who have disappeared or been killed by the police include: Gulzar Singh's brother Dilbagh Singh, son of Harnam Singh; his nephew Gurmej Singh, son of Dara Singh; and his nephew Angrez Singh, son of Kundan Singh.