Sikh families of 1986 police shooting victims call for justice

The families of four Sikh youths who were killed by police in Punjab in 1986 are calling on authorities to help them secure justice, 34 years later.

At a press conference in Jalandhar on Tuesday 4^th February 2020, the families said that chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Jalandhar MP Santokh Singh had promised them justice for the Nakoda police firing, during the 2019 Parliamentary polls. They are now calling on the politicians to deliver on their pledges.

The conference was held alongside Sikh activists at the 34^th anniversary of the police shooting, where witnesses recounted the incident in which policemen opened fire on people protesting the sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji in a gurdwara in Nakoda.

Baldev Singh, the father of one of the victims; Ravinder Singh, warned that the public would not be satisfied with the lack of action from the politicians, and would vote them out at the next opportunity if they fail to deliver justice; just as they did with the former chief minister, Parkash Singh Badal.

Legal advocate, Satnam Singh Bains, has been working on the case and helped produce the recent documentary Punjab Disappeared. At the event, he called for a probe and for compensation for the victims’ families.

“In this case, Punjab Police officers were allowed to go scot-free, even as they killed four youths without any provocation,” he said.