Two suspicious deaths reflect worrying times for Sikhs in India

Two recent deaths of Sikh men have left many once again questioning the safety of Sikhs in India.

The case of 35-year-old Border Security Force Officer Jaswinder (also being spelled as Jasbinder) Singh in March has just come to light this week as blatant death via police brutality, having been revealed to have 34 injuries in a postmortem after his family collected his body from the (Punjab) Narcotics Control Bureau in Amritsar (20th March).

Meanwhile, also this week (2nd May) a drug cartel enforcement mob was seemingly allowed free reign to brutally murder Billa Singh Dhillon also known as Billa Hedon (of Hedon village in Samrala, Ludhiana). Billa was known as a respected activist, playing a prominent role in local organising for the Farmers Protest, for social reform group Waris Punjab De and the Bandi Singhs Morcha (Sikh political prisoner protest). Through this seva (selfless service), Billa was known to expose drug dealers and thus became a target for the notorious narco-mafia of Punjab.

The case of Jaswinder Singh has been raised by United Sikhs, the global Sikh humanitarian and legal advocacy charity, which is calling for an inquiry into the death and immediate compensation for his family. The situation saw Jammu resident Jaswinder Singh randomly taken in for questioning by NCB in early March, and kept detained until he was announced deceased. His family were allowed one call from him 10 days after he was detained (13th March), where he openly begged for help from the torture he suffered, only for his detainment to be extended until his death. Pictures of the brutal state of his body upon his passing have been circulated online, but will not be shared by Sikh PA. One media report stated he was “ravaged from head-to-toe”. Different media reports give different accounts of whether he was only in Amritsar over this 17-day period, with some suggesting he was also taken back to Jammu by NCB officers too.

The clear extensive torture he suffered suggests real nefarious reasons for Jaswinder Singh to be targeted. The torture resembles previous occurrences in Punjab’s history when authorities were attempting to extract false confessions from someone, or alternatively simply sending a sinister message to anyone disrupting their own activities. Such tales of police brutality are decades old but still regularly reported in Punjab. As a Border Force agent, Jaswinder Singh would have been privy to a lot of movements which could have aroused suspicion. During his detainment, Jaswinder Singh was charged with crimes related to a trafficking seizure which his brother was arrested for in 2024. His brother (Pushpinder Singh) was released without charge back then, making the reasons behind this treatment of Jaswinder Singh all the more obscure.

Punjab has an open secret of police officers and other figures of authority being in charge of major narco-trafficking from the state, to the extent 10,000 police officers were removed from their stations in 2024 to try to disrupt the blatant corruption. Rumours about the true reasons behind the gangland style execution of two police officers in Gurdaspur in February also suggest internal turmoil within the narco trafficker-police network of Punjab. Some investigations have even found BJP leaders at the top end of trafficking in Punjab.

That same February Gurdaspur incident of the double police executions is the same incident which is directly linked to the fake encounter murder of teenager Ranjeet Singh the same week. Ranjeet Singh’s family had reported to the police they had video footage of the double killing, leading to them being targeted by other local police. Read more- “Resistance” rises in response to Sikh “fake encounters” revival | SikhPA.

Regarding the murder of Billa Hedon, whilst some media report it as a street clash, the activist’s mother said he was attacked by the same drug dealers he had recently handed over to police, saying he “opposed drug peddlers” and they “killed him for standing up to them”.

Respected Sikh leader Bhai Amritpal Singh, lead of the Waris Punjab De group Hedon was part of, was famously targeted by authorities after starting his anti-drug Khalsa Vaheer project, going village-to-village across Punjab to challenge peddlers and recruit activists through religious adherence. Amritpal Singh remains a political prisoner since 2023, even after winning a seat as an MP in 2024. Various other anti-drug Sikh activists have been tortured by police for their stands, such as Parvinder Singh Jhota, who was seen with visible electrocution marks after being released from police custody in 2023.

The deaths make headlines just as Punjab “resistance” against state fascism rises, with various reports of Khalistan (free Sikh homeland groups) targeting state infrastructure in response to the continued unjust deaths of Sikhs.

The deaths also come after various other gangland style killings in Punjab, reflecting a turbulent time which authorities seemingly not only do not have a grip on, but are actually complicit in, according to many Sikh organisations and grassroots accounts.

Investigations into both the deaths continue, allegedly.