Six Punjab Police officers convicted for 1993 ‘fake encounter’ murders of Sikhs

Gurdev Singh and Baba Charan Singh (top)

Six Punjab Police officers have been convicted for their roles in abducting and murdering Sikh civilians during the state-ordered massacres of the 1990s.

The team behind the Punjab Disappeared documentary has been helping the families of thousands of Sikhs who had been abducted and killed in police encounters – known as ‘fake encounters’ – during the 1984-1995 state-ordered genocide to bring their legal cases to court.

The convictions relate to the abduction and murder of Baba Charan Singh Ji, and five of his family members in 1993.

In the case of the abduction and murder of Baba Charan Singh, police officer Suba Singh has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of Rs 30,000. Officers Kashmir Singh Gill and Nirmal Singh were acquitted.

Kesar Singh

In the case of Kesar Singh, officers Bikramjit Singh and Sukhdev Singh were sentenced to a total of 12 years of incarceration each.

In the case of Meja Singh, Suba Singh was sentenced to 10 years, while Sukhdev Raj Joshi was sentenced to five years in prison. And in the case of Gurmej Singh and Balwinder Singh, Sukhdev Singh Joshi was convicted to 5 years in prison. Officer Gurmeet Singh was acquitted in the case of Gurdev Singh.

Two other officers, Suba Singh and Lakha Singh, were also convicted but released on probation and fined Rs 50,000 each.

It has taken 27 years to get this case to trial. Originally there were 15 people accused of kidnapping and murdering this family, but six of the accused died before the case reached trial. More than 25 prosecution witnesses also died before the case reached trial.

Baba Meja Singh

The dead bodies were never handed to the family and it has still not been disclosed what ultimately happened to them.

The legal team will be appealing to the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the acquittal of the officers, and to enhance to sentences of the convicted officers to life imprisonment.

Read more about these cases at the Punjab Disappeared website.