Chandigarh, Punjab (KP) - Four Punjab police officers were given life sentences by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the murder of the Sikh human rights activist Shaheed Jaswant Singh Khalra. In 2005, the four had been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for abduction with intent to murder and five years imprisonment for criminal conspiracy.
The police officers receiving the life imprisonment sentences are Satnam Sinh, Jasbir Sinh, Pirthipal Sinh, and Surinderpal Sinh. High court Justices, Mehtab Singh Gill and AN Jindal said that "The sentence of seven years is inadequate and hence extended to rigorous imprisonment for life”, and that Khalra was kidnapped by the four officers from his residence by the orders of Senior Superintendent of Police Ajit Sandhu in 1995.
In police custody, Bhai Jaswant Singh was severely tortured and later killed at Jhabal police station. His body was dumped by the police in the Sutlej river near the Harike Bridge.
According to official police reports, in May of 1997, Ajit Sandhu the Tarn Taran SSP reportedly committed suicide on a railroad track.
The court stated that "The case clearly falls within the ambit of section 364 IPC (kidnapping) and the accused were awarded seven years RI. The intent of appellants was clear as the deceased was abducted with intent to murder as he was active in finding the extra judicial killings in districts of Tarn Taran and Amritsar during the [freedom movement] period".
Another officer involved in the murder of Bhai Khalra, DSP Ashok Kumar is said to have died of natural causes during the trial, and another police officer was discharged from the case.
According to ENSAAF, a human rights organization, “police attempted to derail the trial by destroying evidence, and violently intimidating and abusing witnesses, including the filing of false cases, illegal detention, and threats of death. Even the CBI prosecutor worked to suppress evidence by refusing to call an eyewitness to Khalra's illegal detention, torture, and murder.”
