Protecting the Killers: A Policy of Impunity in Punjab, India

I did everything in the pursuit of truth and justice. I even begged. But
all this failed me. What else could I have done?...There is a Punjabi
saying that after 12 years, even a pile of manure gets to be heard. But
for me, after 12 years, nobody is listening—this must mean that I am
worth even less than manure.
-Mohinder Singh, father of extrajudicial execution victim Jugraj Singh
 
Despite a strong democracy and a vibrant civil society, impunity for human rights
abuses is thriving in India. Particularly in counterinsurgency operations, Indian
security forces commit human rights abuses with the knowledge that there is little
chance of being held accountable. Human Rights Watch documented this most
recently in its September 2006 report, “Everyone Lives in Fear”: Patterns of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir, which showed a vicious cycle of abuse and impunity that has fueled the conflict.
 
The impunity gap in India is nowhere more evident than in Punjab. Over a decade
has passed since the government defeated a separatist Sikh rebellion. Tens of
thousands of people died during this period, which stretched from early 1980s
through the mid-1990s. Sikh militants were responsible for serious human rights
abuses including the massacre of civilians, attacks upon Hindu minorities in the
state, indiscriminate bomb attacks in crowded places, and the assassination of a
number of political leaders. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Sikh bodyguards
assassinated her in 1984. The Sikh insurgency paralyzed the economy and led to
widespread extortion and land grabs.  
 
At the same time, from 1984 to 1995 the Indian government ordered counterinsurgency operations that led to the arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial execution, and enforced disappearance of thousands of Sikhs. Police abducted young Sikh men on suspicion that they were involved in the militancy, often in the presence of witnesses, yet later denied having them in custody. Most of the victims of such enforced disappearances are believed to have been killed. To hide the evidence of their crimes, security forces secretly disposed of the bodies, usually by cremating them. When the government was questioned about “disappeared” youth in Punjab, it often claimed that they had gone abroad to Western countries.
 
Special counterinsurgency laws, and a system of rewards and incentives for police to
capture and kill militants, led to an increase in “disappearances” and extrajudicial
executions of civilians and militants alike. In 1994, Human Rights Watch and
Physicians for Human Rights described the government’s operations as “the most
extreme example of a policy in which the end appeared to justify any and all means,
including torture and murder.”

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I. Summary
Key recommendations

II. Methodology

III. Background

IV. International and Domestic Legal Standards and Norms
The right to an effective remedy
Superior responsibility
Indian law

V. Failure of Justice
A. NHRC and the Punjab mass cremations case
B. CBI failure to investigate extrajudicial killings
C. The murder of Jaswant Singh Khalra: Intimidation of witnesses and superior responsibility
D. The killing of Jugraj Singh: Police intimidation and failure of due process
E. Attacks on civilians: The killing of Charanjit Kaur
F. Harrassment of relatives: The case of Mohinderpal Singh alias Pali
G. The “disappearance” of Ajmer Singh
H. Dispiriting delays: The killing of Kulwinder Singh alias Kid

VI. Remedial Framework to Combat Impunity
Combating impunity
Right to knowledge: Commission of inquiry
Right to justice: Special Prosecutor’s Office
Right to reparations: A comprehensive reparations program

Acknowledgements