Under Sl. Nos. 132/474 and 133/475, the list identifies two cremations carried out by the SHO of Harike police station on 25 July 1991 under FIR No. 37/91. They are of [1] Sukhdev Singh, s/o Buta Singh Sansi, r/o Booh and [2] Swarn Singh, s/o Sadhu Singh Mazbi, r/o Chamba. The postmortem reports are marked as SS?4/91 and SS?5/91. The cause of death is described as “encounter”.

The Committee has the following information in these cases through its Incident-Report Form Nos. CCDP/01585 and 01620. The main informants are Sukhdev’s mother Mohinder Kaur and Sarwan’s father Sadhu Singh.

Sarwan Singh, wrongly described in the list as Swarn Singh, was the twenty-two year old son of Sadhu Singh and Surjit Kaur, resident of Chamba Khurd, under Sarhali Kalan police station, in Tarn Taran subdivision of Amritsar district. He was a Mazhabi Sikh with no association with the political or militant movement in Punjab. His father Sadhu Singh had retired as a constable of the Punjab police. Sarwan was unmarried and earned his livelihood by selling poultry around his village on his bicycle.

Twenty-eight year old Sukhdev Singh, son of Mohinder Kaur and Bawa Singh Fauji, wrongly described in the CBI’s list as Buta Singh Sansi, was an operator of the combined harvesting machine. He was from village Booh, post office Harike, in Tarn Taran subdivision of Amritsar district. Sukhdev belonged to the Sansi group of Sikhs, recognized by the Indian Constitution as a scheduled caste and an economically backward community. He was married to Jasvir Kaur with a daughter and a son who are now 13 and 11. According to Sukhdev’s mother, he had no political or militant association and had never been arrested or interrogated. It is not clear whether he was acquainted with Sarwan Singh or not.

One morning in late July 1991, Sarwan Singh went out on his vending business but did not return home. His parents began to get nervous when he did not return after some days and tried to inquire from various relatives. They failed to obtain any information.

In April 2002, members of the Committee approached Sadhu Singh at his village for information about the circumstances in which Sarwan Singh got cremated by the police, as recorded in the CBI’s list, on 16 July 2002. Sadhu Singh and his family members were initially taken aback and spent a fair amount of time ascertaining our source of information about Sarwan Singh’s cremation. They had not heard of the CBI’s investigation ordered by the Supreme Court and did not know anything about the proceedings before the NHRC. After being informed about these developments, Sadhu Singh and his family members began to weep strongly. Sadhu Singh’s wife refused to believe that her son had been killed and cremated. According to Sadhu Singh, he had consulted several astrologers and soothsayers in Amritsar about the fate of his son after he had disappeared in July 1991 and had been reassured that he was alive. He had paid Rs. 300/- to a famous astrologer to reconfirm these predictions.

In the end, Sadhu was willing to believe that the police may have killed and cremated Sarwan Singh, but was unable to provide any information. His wife Surjit Kaur wanted to know why the police had not informed her.

According to Sadhu Singh and his wife, Sarwan Singh and other members of the family had no association with the political or the militant movement in Punjab.

According to Sukhdev’s mother, her son, accompanied by his wife Jasvir Kaur, was visiting his aunt Harbans Kaur, wife of Mohinder Singh, at village Kirtowal when he was arrested by a group of police officers led by the SHO of Harike police station. His arrest was witnessed by Harbans Kaur and other village residents. The family was unable to do much to save him from the illegal arrest.

On 26 September 1991, Punjabi newspapers published a report about his killing in an encounter, along with Sarwan Singh. The family was not informed about the cremation and could not even collect the ashes. ')"

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