Patti

Shaheedi of Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra: On September 6, 1995, while Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra was washing his car outside his home, he was forcibly taken by members of the Punjab Police and transported to Jhabal Police Station. Despite eyewitnesses providing testimonies linking the police to the abduction and identifying Kanwar Pal Singh Gill, the Director General of the Punjab Police, as a key figure behind the conspiracy, the police denied ever arresting or holding Khalra. They further claimed to have no information regarding his location. In 1996, the Central Bureau of Investigation uncovered evidence that Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra had been detained at a police station in Tarn Taran and recommended charging nine Punjab police officers with kidnapping and murder. Despite the findings, those implicated in his killing were not formally charged for a decade. One of the suspects, Senior Superintendent of Police Ajit Singh Sandhu, was reported to have died by suicide in 1997, although the circumstances suggested it was staged. On November 18, 2005, six Punjab police officers were convicted for Khalra’s abduction and murder. Deputy Superintendent Jaspal Singh and Amarjit Singh received life sentences, while the remaining four were sentenced to seven years in prison. On October 16, 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, with Justices Mehtab Singh Gill and A. N. Jindal presiding, extended life imprisonment to the other four: Satnam Singh, Surinder Pal Singh, Jasbir Singh (all former sub-inspectors), and Prithipal Singh (former head constable). On April 11, 2011, the Supreme Court of India upheld the life sentences for the four convicted officers, harshly criticizing the human rights violations carried out by the Punjab Police during the unrest.