Sajjan Kumar

New Delhi, India (January 24, 2012): The Delhi High Court has reserved its verdict on Indian politician Sajjan Kumar’s plea challenging the trial court’s order framing charges against him in one of the cases related to 1984 brutal massacres of Sikhs in Delhi.

It is notable that Sikhs in India were subjected to genocidal violance during first week of November 1984 after the assasination of then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October, 1984. The violance was prepetrated by the State and high ranks of the Indian government and the ruling congress party, therefore the prepetrators have enjoyed the impunity to a large extent. It took more than 25 years for the Indian system to charge Sajjan Kumar.

Justice Suresh Kait of Delhi High Court today reserved the order after the counsel for Kumar, CBI and various victims concluded their arguments on Kumar’s plea.

Appearing for Sajjan Kumar, counsel Amrender Sharan submitted before the court that in 2002 his client was acquitted by a special court in the case and CBI had registered another case in 2005 against him and others with an ulterior motive.

He also said the investigating agency has named those persons as prosecution witnesses who had already testified in an earlier case for the alleged killing of 60 persons during the riot, in which he had been acquitted.

Appearing for the victims, senior counsel H S Phoolka contended Delhi Police had deliberately suppressed evidence against Kumar due to his political connections and the probe agency had made faulty investigations in the case so that the accused would get the benefit of law.

The trial court had on July 1, 2010, framed charges against Kumar and Brahmanand Gupta, Peru, Khushal Singh and Ved Prakash for the murder of six persons at Sultanpuri area in North-West Delhi in the riots that had taken place in the wake of the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi On October 31, 1984.

CBI had filed two charge-sheets against Kumar and others on January 13 in the riots cases registered in 2005 on the recommendation of Justice G T Nanavati Commission which had inquired into the sequence of events leading to the riots.

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Bhai Daljit Singh appeared in the court of additional session judge, Karamjit Singh on charges of robbery going back to the 1987 robbery of the National Bank in Ludhiana. The trial has been ongoing since July 2011 but no decision has been made yet. The next court date has been set for January 27, 2012.

The ongoing and continuous imprisonment of these Sikhs, along with hundreds of other Sikhs across India, is a constant reminder of the injustices inflicted upon the Sikh minority by the Government of India. Many Sikhs have been imprisoned under unconstitutional laws that have kept them behind bars for decades without even a charge being laid against them.

Source: freethesingh.com

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Police had registered a case against former Khalistan Commando Force militant Bakhshish Singh, two suspected suicide bombers including a woman, and another person on October 9 in 2008 under various sections of the IPC, reports Press Trust of India (PTI).

Sub-divisional judicial magistrate Manoj Kumar today acquitted all the four including Bagicha Singh and Gobind Kaur alias Gurpreet Kaur and Amarjeet Singh, in the case as the prosecution failed to establish charges against them.

While Bakhshish Singh was lodged in Nabha security jail in Patiala, the other three were all out on bail.

Police had alleged Bakhshish Singh along with his accomplices were plotting to eliminate the Dera chief. The two alleged suicide bombers procured mobile numbers on the basis of fake identity and were in touch with Bakhshish Singh. They had earlier visited the Dera at Sirsa and stayed there for a few days.

Bagicha Singh was the alleged mastermind along with Bakhshish and they were planning to eliminate the Dera chief inside his Dera and one of these accused could have been used as a suicide bomber, the prosecution said.

A total 16 witnesses including 3 from Dera Sacha Sauda deposed in the case. Bakhshish Singh is still facing three more cases including attempt to kill Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim in Karnal three years ago.

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“Bhog ceremony of Sri Guru Granth Sahib was performed before presenting the award. Presenting the award Akal Takhat Jathedar said this award is being presented to Parkash Singh Badal for his services to the state especially to the Sikhs. He had announced this award at Sri Anandpur Sahib last month, the day on which Virasat-e-Khalsa complex was dedicated to mankind” highlights All India Radio (AIR), owned by Parsar Bharti, a Government of India (GOI) organ, on it’s website.

Akal Takhat Chief said that Punjab Chief Minister has rendered a “great service” to the Sikhs by setting up memorials in the memory of martyrs of Sikh history.

It is notable that now days Sri Akal Takhat Sahib, Sovereign Sikh Takhat, is under unfortunate control of the Indian State through SGPC, a body “elected” through an election process conducted under the directions of Home ministry of India.

While registering it’s opposition various Sikh organizations have issued statements, today. Dal Khalsa leader Kanwar Pal Singh, in one such statement, said: the Jathedar of Akal Takht Gaini Gurbachan Singh has today written a black chapter in the history of supreme temporal seat ‘Akal Takht’ by honouring a person with “Panth Rattan Faqr-e-quam’ title who is neither dutiful nor faithful to the Panth.

Sikh Youth of America has published a full page letter in Punjabi Daily “Pehredar” and explained in detail that why it was opposed the move. “Such a step would diminish the sovereignity of Sri Akal Takhat Sahib”, Gurinderjeet Singh Maana, told Sikh Siyasat Network.

SSF President Parmjeet Singh Gazi said: “bestowing Panth Rattan on Parkash Singh Badal is a step that could be equated with honouring General Dyre from Akal Takhat or ousting of Giani Gurmukh Singh from Sikh Panth”.

“As the Sikhs never accepted both decisions of those who had then encroached over the power seats, the Sikh Nation will never accept this step, of honoring PS Badal, by those who are currently sitting upon the seats of power” he added.

Perturbed over the move, he said SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar and Gaini Gurbachan Singh have surpassed all records of sycophancy to appease their political master, said Harchanjit Singh Dhaami, President of Dal Khalsa.

After killing the letter and spirit of the Nanakshahi calendar by mixing it with Bikrami calendar, the duo Makkar and Jathedar Gubachan Singh had again played havoc with the community by honouring Parkash Singh Badal, whose entire political life is mired in controversies, scams and corruption, he added.

Those former jathedar’s who have deliberately denigrated this supreme seat which symbolizes Sikh Sovereignty have become victims of their own actions, he said and added that history will not spare Gaini Gurbachan Singh for taking this supreme institution to such a low level.

“The present incumbent should remember the fate of his predecessors who got deviated from their role and responsibility to protect and uphold the rich traditions of Akal Takht”, said Dal Khalsa leader.

Jathedar Gurbachan Singh owe explanation now to Sikh Panth whether recipient of such a high honour should go to the people begging for votes or himself contest elections for the office which is much lower than the honoured bestowed on him from the highest seat.

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There will be various guest speakers from all walks of life speaking at this event which will highlight the plight of the Sikh Nation and Others who are being oppressed by India under the policy of crushing minorities while the Hindutva Elite hold on to power, Manmohan Singh Khalsa of Dal Khalsa UK informed Sikh Siyasat Network.

As of the last few weeks Panjab and the Sikh Nation have seen a sharp rise in Hindu extremism against Sikhs across Panjab. From an attempted attack on Bhai Jagtar Singh Hawara – by Hindutva Terrorists who were helped by the Police & Govt agencies to carry out the attack which failed miserably,Cash Rewards being offered by RSS/ShivSena Hindu Terrorists for the heads of Sikhs to Sikhs being attacked in Amritsar & other Cities & Villages by Hindu Fanatics of the BJP/RSS & Police,old & young had their Turbans & Kirpans removed & were caged like animals even after being beaten unconscious all this for being Sikhs & for Speaking out for their rights, he added.

This happened to the chants of ‘ Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ by the Hindu Terrorists in front of the Media which refused to cover the incidents the only footage we have is from Sikhs who risked their lives to show the World what is happening.

He further informed that all these Human Rights violations & others would be examined, analyzed and exposed to the World,all are welcome to attend & if you would like to speak please post on the wall so we can put your name down on the list of speakers.

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It’s very wrongful and shameful act to humiliate an elderly person, said party’s office secretary Sarbjit Singh Ghuman. It has reminded us of the similar incident when a person (who also happens to be a Sikh) associated with so-called Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena- an offshoot of the RSS assaulted supreme court lawyer Prashant Bhushan in his SC chamber. There is some design behind all these incidents. “Some hidden forces in Delhi are time and again using the Sikh face as a tool for their vested political interests, said the release.

Condemning the mischievous statement of Anna Hazare, he said the action of Harvinder Singh seems to be guided by the rhetoric of anti-graft crusader Anna and his team against politicians.

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“The Chase Community Giving contest a labor of love for all our volunteers. It was an exciting two weeks of networking on the ground as our volunteers hit the road, real people talking to real people, using social media technology for a good cause! We sincerely appreciate the time and effort everyone put in by everyone. We maintained our commitment to the Program rules and thank Chase Bank for the opportunity. We look forward to using the funds for augmenting our Humanitarian Aid and Community Services projects, ” said Jatinder Singh, Director United Sikhs.

“We thank all the Gurudwaras, volunteers, and thousands of facebook users who supported the organization. We congratulate the top 100 winners of the contest. We also thank ‘Chase Community Giving’ for providing us an avenue to engage communities worldwide in supporting our projects in the service of humanity” said Kuldip Singh, President, United Sikhs, USA.

“We thank the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC), Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Commitee (SGPC) and the Gurudwara committees of North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa who unequivocally supported our cause and provided help with reaching out to the masses” said Pawanjit Singh, Director United Sikhs, USA.

Participating itself has been a learning experience about the passion we bring to help the needy and the wonderful work that other charities do and the various causes they work for.

United Sikhs thanked and congratulated all Charities that participated and has wished everyone success in their endeavors – the world is a wonderful place because of the selfless work by Volunteers for the charities they work with.

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The organization has also taken tough stand against the Punjab government for inviting film stars for the inauguration of the Complex at Anandpur Sahib.

Going by the advertisements run by the Punjab government, the complex is to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

In a statement issued here today, Dal Khalsa chief H. S. Dhami said as per the Sikh maryada, the inaugurations and foundation laying stone ceremonies of the Sikh institutions are performed by the Panj Piaras.

Asserting that Panj Piaras, and not the Chief Minister, should inaugurate the complex, the Dal Khalsa has stated that the “religious route” should be followed to perform the inaugural ceremony or else devout Sikhs would boycott the show.

He said theirs group along with like-minded parties including Khalsa Action Committee and SAD (Panch Pardhani) have decided to stay away from the function.

He called upon SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar to recall his own intervention against the violation of this convention when the first phase of this very complex was to be inaugurated by then Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh on April 14, 2006. The SGPC had boycotted that function on the ground that inauguration was not being done by Panj Piaras. Following protest by SGPC, the first phase was inaugurated by Five Sikh Personalities and not by the then CM.

Makkar, in a statement issued on April 12, 2006, had said, “The heritage complex is linked to the religious sentiments of people and we would like Panj Piaras to inaugurate it preceded by the parkash of Guru Granth Sahib and ardas. If anyone else does the inauguration, it will not be acceptable to us”.

Dhami took exception that SGPC president has taken a U-turn under pressure on its earlier principle standpoint that “Panj Piaras, and not the Chief Minister”, should inaugurate the Khalsa Heritage Complex.

The statement further said it was ironic that Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma of Sant Samaj who participated in the inauguration of first phase organized by Capt. Amrinder Singh led government was maintaining silence on the issue.

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Similar issue was unearthed in Punjab by Jaswant Singh Khalra, a human rights activist of Punjab who was soon after subjected to enforced disappearance and was killed by Punjab Police. JS Khalra brought documentary evidences of secret cremations being carried as a part of systematic and wide spread unlawful practice. In Punjab this practice was carried by both “disciplined” armed forces, (including police, army and para-military forces of India) and “undisciplined” armed groups operating under state patronage, whose operations were supervised by senior officers of Armed forces. These notorious undisciplined armed groups included “Black Cats”, Alam Sena and Virk Sena. Indian supreme court has accepted at least 2097 illegal cremations by armed forces in just three cremation grounds of Amritsar, which is one of the twenty districts of Punjab, while rest of the issue remains un-investigated till date.

As far issue of unidentified graveyards in Kashmir is concerned according to the report, the local Auquaf committee says there could be more than 70 unmarked graves in the cemetery. For several years, body bags continued to pour in until the graveyard was filled to capacity, reports Kashmir Watch.

A “Daily News and Analysis” (DNA) news report, states, “Zubair Ahmad points at the mud-covered graves. He is jittery – playing in his mind are flashbacks from the day in the mid-’90s when security forces handed over three charred half-bodies to the local Auqaf Committee for burial.”

Ahmad, who was in his early 20s then, witnessed the burial, in the village graveyard, of unidentified bodies of alleged ‘militants’. The graveyard gradually became the resting place for more and more unidentified bodies brought there by the security forces.

“From the mid-’90s to the early 2000s, security forces and the police brought bodies in vans for burial in the graveyard,” the report quotes Zubair as saying. “Once, five boys who looked like they were teenagers were brought for burial.”

“It used to be a village graveyard,” says Molvi Bashir Ahmed, the Mirwaiz of Jama Masjid and chairman of the central Auqaf Committee. “Since Bindu village is central in the Breng area, and the police station is nearby, the bodies were handed over to us. We, as Muslims, thought it was our religious duty and buried them in the local graveyard.”

Bindu is a strategically located, with Kishtwar in Jammu region on one side and Anantnag on the other.

“We were told that these bodies belonged to unidentified militants. But we did not know who they were. People from different areas, including Kishtwar, came to us enquiring whether any of their kin were buried in the graveyard. We referred them to the police station, telling them that cops might have photographs of the dead,” says Molvi Bashir.

South Kashmir has, so far, remained insulated from the unmarked graves controversy, even as north Kashmir remains in the limelight after the investigative wing of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) found 2,156 unidentified bodies buried in 38 graveyards across three districts.

Jammu and Kashmir minister of state for home, Nasir Aslam Wani, said he will look into the matter of unmarked graves in south Kashmir. “I have to check this. Since you told me, I will look into this,” he said.
Defence spokesman Lt Col JS Brar refused to comment
on this issue. Human rights groups say this only proves that no district is free from the unmarked graves. “The fact of the matter is that no district in Kashmir is free from unmarked graves,” said Khurram Parvez, Liaison International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice (IPT), and programme coordinator, Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society.

IPT had come out with a report titled ‘Buried Evidence’, documenting 2,700 unknown, unmarked, mass graves, containing 2,943 bodies, across 55 villages in Bandipora, Baramulla, and Kupwara districts of Kashmir. The report was based on research conducted
from November 2006-November 2009.

The IPT report was the second, and comes on the heels of J&K Coalition of Civil Society report in 2008 about nameless graves. Titled ‘Facts Under Ground’, the report detailed 940 to 1,000 nameless graves of unidentified slain people.

“I remember chief minister Omar Abdullah telling people to come forward for DNA testing. But nobody came forward,” says Mustafa Kamaal, additional general secretary and spokesman of the ruling National Conference.

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“I wonder why no one in India lodged case against Amitabh Bachchan for provoking killing of Sikhs,” Jagdish Kaur is quoted to have said on Thursday, while talking to TOI.

It is notable that following Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination on October 31, 1984 by Bhai Satwant Singh and Bhai Beant Singh, India erupted in genocidal vioance against Sikhs.

Rajiv Gandhi and Amitabh Bachhan were close friends

Reminiscing the terrible sad memories of violance against the Sikhs, Jagdish Kaur said, “I watched live relay on Doordarshan and saw Amitabh Bachchan raising his arm and shouting the slogan, ‘khun ka badla khun sae laengae’ (Blood for blood) two times. “

Jagdish Kaur is further reported to have said that everyone who had been watching Doordarshan was witness to how the bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan provoked the anti- Sikh riots. “I am not concerned that a case has been registered against him in Australia but all I want to know why nobody noticed Amitabh’s provoking statement in India,” Kaur asked.

She said that ever since she saw Amitabh spewing venom in full public glare she never watched any of his movies or programmes on TV. “Any mention of him or his work reminds me of his role in the 1984 genocide,” she said.

Recently a US-based Sikh human rights group, named Sikhs for Justice, lodged a criminal complaint against Bachchan in Australia for instigating and abetting 1984 anti Sikh riots. Australia’s ‘Criminal Code Act 1995′ states that Australian courts can have jurisdiction over cases involving crimes against humanity irrespective of whether the offense was committed in Australia or not.

Jagdish Kaur, then 42, had seen her husband and son being murdered in cold blood by a frenzied mob inside her house in Palam Colony (West Delhi) on November 1st 1984. She also saw her three brothers Narinder Pal Singh, 35, Raghwinder Singh, 28 and Kuldeep Singh ,21, all contractors with MES, burning to death by the mob while they were trying to save themselves.

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