Minorities Discrimination in India

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde claimed that the main opposition parties in India, BJP and RSS are involved in terror activities in the country.

“The government has names of at least 10 persons associated with the RSS in bomb blast cases,” he said. Singh said that RSS was involved in Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Dargah Sharif blasts.

“Training camps of both the BJP and the RSS are promoting Hindu terrorism. Whether it is Samjhauta blast or Mecca Masjid blast or Malegaon blast, they plant bombs and blame it on the minorities,” he had said on the last day of the Congress Chintan Shivir in Jaipur. His comments were backed by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. “Our stated position is fully shared by the Home Minister. His statements are based on facts,” Khurshid told reporters.

This depicts the real face of fake democracy in India. The country which depicts itself the safest nation and the democratic as well is basically the terrorist nation. Our government should take some actions against these terrorist organizations.

Our government is totally failed in providing security to the citizens. Rapes, killings and atrocities with minorities are also at its peak. I feel ashamed for being an Indian. The proud which I had of being an Indian is no more.

Another big reality is that these two groups are also involved in recent rape incidents as well. The culprits were the terrorists of BJP and RSS and they have political background that is why no one can say anything to them. Though they are arrested but they will not get any kind of punishment and police will release them. Shame on us..!!!

Sikhs in our country are also not safe. Government and people are not giving rights to the Sikhs. It seems that BJP and RSS are behind this as well. They just want Hindus to flourish which is totally wrong. If we say that we are living in a democratic country, then we should prove it as well. Sikh women are being raped by BJP and RSS terrorists. There is no one in our country that raises voice for Sikhs. Instead of raising voice, they are disgraced in a bad manner. No one in our country listens to any kind of petition in a favour of Sikhs. This is really shameful for our country.

In short, we have training camps in our soil and instead of blaming other countries; we should do something to end these camps in our country if we want true democracy.

Atrocities of Indian Police on Sikhs

On Sunday February 12, 2012 Indian media reported that 35 year old ‘dreaded terrorist’ Kulwant Singh was in critical condition after having been admitted to hospital with over 50 per cent burns to his body.  Jail officials claim that Kulwant Singh attempted suicide while cooking.  According to the news stories, fellow inmates and jail officials refuse to comment any further on what happened.

Shockingly, this isn’t the first time Kulwant Singh has been admitted to hospital by the police, fighting for his life.  Those who have been following Kulwant Singh’s story know that this alleged suicide attempt is likely just another fabrication in a long list of lies that have been told by the Punjab Police to cover up ongoing illegal detentions and torture.

Background

The tragic story of how Kulwant Singh has suffered repeated and severe abuses of his human rights at the hands of the Punjab Police isn’t widely known.

On July 29, 2010 the Punjab Police announced the arrest of five ‘terrorists’.  Amongst the five arrested were Pal Singh, a French citizen and Kulwant Singh who was Pal Singh’s driver and domestic help.  According the Punjab Police’s official story, Kulwant Singh and Gurmukh Singh were arrested from the Amritsar bypass and after interrogation they revealed the names of Pal Singh and others.  Pal Singh was allegedly picked up from the Jalandhar bus stand on July 27th.

The only problem with the official story was that a Facebook page titled “Free Pal Singh” had been created on July 26 telling of how Pal Singh had been picked up on July 22nd and items such as his car, laptop and other belongings had also been seized.  Pal Singh’s daughter had also sent emails to the French Embassy on July 23rd and 24th reporting his abduction.  The Police story was clearly a fabrication.

Kulwant Singh’s Torture

News about this case next emerged on August 6, 2010 in a small story in the Times of India (TOI).  TOI reported that Kulwant Singh had been admitted to hospital, close to death, with kidney failure.  Doctors observed that he had been subjected to electrical shocks on his ears and genitals and had also been beaten in his abdomen with batons.  Pal Singh and the others who were arrested also report being tortured in custody.

Kulwant Singh survived.  He slowly recovered from his torture injuries and was returned to jail.  A case was registered against the officer responsible for his torture and that case was now moving forward.

Inconsistencies in the Punjab Police’s story about Kulwant Singh’s arrest in addition to his well documented injuries from torture are an embarrassment to the Punjab Police.  If Kulwant Singh’s case were to proceed it would expose the human rights abuses taking place in Punjab.

The reasons behind the arrest of Pal Singh, Kulwant Singh and others can only be speculated upon.  Pal Singh has suggested that he was targeted because of his opposition to the Badal government in Punjab and his efforts to bring change in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee which manages Sikh Gurdwaras.  Regardless, whatever evidence the Punjab Police has against these accused must be brought before a court of law in a timely manner and India, which prides itself as the world’s largest democracy, must ensure its security forces respect the rule of law and basic human rights norms.

Suicide Attempt or Attempted Murder?

We have learned that when Kulwant Singh was alone in his cell and asleep, an already burning flame accelerant was thrown on him and he was scorched from the knees upward.

The story of Kulwant Singh’s alleged suicide attempt while cooking is factually impossible as there is no cooking area within Kulwant Singh’s cell.

Furthermore, after recovering from his previous injuries and with his torture case now proceeding, there would be no reason for Kulwant Singh to attempt suicide at this time, and that too in such a painful manner.  It appears this was an attempt to forever silence Kulwant Singh and make his story of illegal detention and torture go away.

This isn’t the first time the Punjab Police has tried to eliminate individuals who may expose the stories of torture.  In January 2011, Shaminder Singh Shera was beaten to death after he threatened to expose the story of his illegal detention and torture at the hands of the Punjab Police.  In March, Sohan Singh was reported to have committed suicide in his cell by hanging, when his family repeatedly stated that he had been badly tortured and could barely stand.

What Can You Do?

Let those in power know that Kulwant Singh matters and his abuse won’t be ignored.  Shaminder Singh Shera, Sohan Singh and countless others have died because it is felt the public will not react to their murders.  It is felt that the lives of these individuals don't matter. That needs to change.

You can contact the head of Amritsar Jail, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh and the Superintendent of Amritsar Jail, Roop Kumar and let them know that you are concerned about the treatment Kulwant Singh and his fellow accused have received and that their human rights must be respected.  The contact information for these individuals is below:

Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, IPS

DIG (Prisons), Central Jail, Amritsar

Phone & Fax: +91-183-2591110

Cell: +91-9814085205

E-mail: kunwarv@yahoo.com,  sudharghar@gmail.com

Roop Kumar, Superintendent Jail, Amritsar

Phone: +91-183-2591973

Cell: +91-9876005959

E-mail: roop_18181@yahoo.co.in

Why India Shouldn’t Criticize US on Sikh Shooting?

There is little question that the tragic killing of six Sikh worshippers at a Gurudwara in a Milwaukee suburb on Sunday was a depraved and reprehensible act. It also underscored the toxic brew produced by combining the United States’ lax gun control laws with the resurgence of racist ideology.

That being said, the official reaction of the Government of India to this horrific incident reeks of hypocrisy. The outrage expressed by the Indian National Congress, the principal component of the current ruling coalition, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is entirely insincere given that it has done little or nothing to bring the perpetrators of the 1984 pogrom against the Sikh population of New Delhi to justice. In this tragedy it should be emphasized that as many as 800 Sikhs were systematically slaughtered in the streets of the nation's capital.

The attacks took place in the wake of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by two of her Sikh bodyguards in 1984. The bodyguards were motivated by her decision to send Indian troops into the Golden temple in Amritsar, the holiest of Sikh shrines, after Sikh separatists had seized it. To ostensibly avenge her death, a host of street thugs, many of whom are believed to have been associated with the Congress Party, went on a rampage across much of the city attacking Sikh neighborhoods and killing many of those they came across.

As a number of independent assessments have shown, the city's police during this incident were merely bystanders to the carnage at best and tacit collaborators at worst. Today, even after no less than ten government-appointed commissions of inquiry, only a few insignificant persons have been convicted for their role in what could be described as India's first pogrom. Indeed, as Human Rights Watch put it in a 2011 report, “The [Indian] government has yet to prosecute those responsible for the mass killings of Sikhs that followed the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.”

With its track record of being either unable or unwilling to prosecute the key individuals who organized and directed the grotesque events, the Congress Party’s denouncements of the U.S. government ring hollow. Had Wade Michael Page, the individual accused of the heinous crime in Wisconsin on Sunday, not been fatally wounded by police after Wade had shot the first officer to arrive on the scene 8 or 9 times as the officer sought to care for the wounded, rest assure U.S.  Law would have certainly followed its course. Page would have faced the full weight of a fair trial and would have, in all likelihood, paid dearly for carrying out this cruel and wanton act.

Publicly upbraiding the United States for allowing individuals to have easy access to firearms and for the racist proclivities of an individual may well generate enthusiastic press coverage and electoral support for India’s politicians. However, it cannot wash away the stain from India's own flawed record in its abject failure to bring the guilty to justice for the terror that they had unleashed upon a segment of their hapless, innocent citizenry in the closing months of 1984.