Jalandhar: Standing at the entrance of his house with his wife, US-based Baldev Singh (78) pointed towards a big nameplate bearing the title ‘Saka Nakodar 4 February 1986 – Shaheed Bhai Ravinder Singh’, a remembrance and tribute to the extrajudicial killings of his son and three other youths 38 years ago.
It was on February 4, 1986 that Baldev Singh’s son Ravinder Singh from Littran village and three others – namely, Harminder Singh from Chalupar, Baldhir Singh from Ramgarh and Jhilman Singh from Gorsian villages – were gunned down by police in the Nakodar sub-division of Jalandhar district when they were leading a peaceful march against the sacrilege of five saroops (copies) of the Guru Granth Sahib.
The youths were members of the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF).
The case is akin to the 2015 Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan police firing in which two youths were killed.
Baldev Singh was the sole witness among the four families who saw the deceased bodies at the Civil Hospital, Nakodar on the morning of February 5, 1986.
The autopsies of all four were conducted in the dead of the night and they were unceremoniously cremated by the Punjab police.
Every year, Baldev Singh and his wife Baldip Kaur visit their ancestral village of Littran in Jalandhar’s Nakodar to observe the anniversary of Saka Nakodar.
This year, they observed the 38th anniversary of Saka Nakodar on February 4, 2024.
Saka in Punjabi means a historic incident or tragedy involving rare valour or sacrifice.
Four men were gunned down in Nakodar as they led a peace march against the sacrilege of Sikhism’s holiest book. Photo: Twitter/@sakanakodar.
Baldev Singh’s plea to CM Mann: ‘Give me justice in my lifetime’
Speaking to The Wire while showing some old photographs, an emotional Baldev Singh said that every political party, be it the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP, the Congress or the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), have failed to provide them justice.
He said that when chief minister Bhagwant Mann was an MP from Sangrur, he vociferously raised their case in parliament and demanded justice for them.
“Ironically, after becoming CM of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann too turned a blind eye towards us. Even Kultar Singh Sandhawan, who is now Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker and had attended the death anniversary of the Saka Nakodar victims in 2019, has promised justice”, he said.
Baldev Singh shared that they were mulling to approach the Supreme Court as a last resort.
“We consulted our lawyer H.C. Arora and noted Supreme Court lawyer H.S. Phoolka in this regard and will take a final call soon”, he added.
The elderly man said, “H.C. Arora had already told me ‘ki insaaf milna ta mushkil hai’ [It was difficult to get justice]. It could be that it might take some years and I may not get justice in my lifetime.
“But I hope somewhere, some judge will give us justice. I wish the almighty would give me some more time. I will fight till I am alive. All I want to plead to CM Bhagwant Mann is to please give us [justice] in my lifetime. We want closure in this case.”
Baldev Singh and his wife, Baldip Kaur, at their home in Littran village in Nakodar. Photo: Kusum Arora.
The missing Justice Gurnam Singh report
After the extrajudicial killings of the four youth in February 1986, the then-finance minister Balwant Singh had announced a judicial inquiry by a retired high court judge.
Subsequently, the Justice Gurnam Singh Commission conducted the inquiry and submitted the ‘judicial inquiry report’ to the Punjab government on October 31, 1986.
While the first part of the inquiry report was tabled in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on March 5, 2001, when Parkash Singh Badal was chief minister, the second part of the report, which was dated October 31, 1986 and contained significant evidence, exhibit files and the sworn statements of police officials, administrative authorities and witnesses, went missing.
After a gap of 33 years and under pressure from the victims’ families, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker in a disclosure on February 13, 2019 revealed that the judicial inquiry report had been placed in the state assembly on March 5, 2001 without any action taken report and was accessible at the Vidhan Sabha library before its second part disappearance.
Later, Baldev Singh filed a petition regarding the missing second part of the report on August 26, 2021, seeking the formation of a special investigative team (SIT) to investigate its disappearance from the custody of the Punjab government.
“It was on my request to Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Singh Sandhawan that the SSP [senior superintendent of police] Jalandhar constituted [an SIT] comprising SP [superintendent of police] Jalandhar, DSP [deputy superintendent of police] Nakodar and SHO [station house officer] Nakodar was constituted on May 12, 2023”, he said.
“SSP Jalandhar Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar had directed the SIT to include me in the investigation and file a detailed report based on the findings and facts within one month. But six months have passed and nothing has been done in the name of investigating the extrajudicial killings of our sons”, Baldev Singh said.
Five months after the SIT was constituted, on October 7, 2023, Justice Avneesh Jhingan of the Punjab and Haryana high court dismissed Baldev Singh’s petition and observed:
“Learned State Counsel, on instructions from Sukhpal Singh, DSP Sub Division Nakodar, District Jalandhar (Rural), Inspector Satpal Singh Sidhu, SHO Police Station City Nakodar submitted that part of the inquiry report was misplaced. He further asserted that in response to the petitioner’s representation, an SIT was constituted. Additionally, he stated that four FIRs relating to the incident were registered.”
A distraught Baldev Singh also filed a right to information application on December 2, 2023 but did not get any response.
In January 2024, Baldev Singh shot off a letter to the Jalandhar SSP and urged him for action and transparency in the investigation of the Nakodar killings.
“I am a crucial witness of this case and the SIT was formed following my complaint. I want clarity as to how the report could be concluded without taking my account into consideration”, he said.
Family holds first ever insaf yatra, demands discussion on Saka Nakodar in upcoming budget session
Baldev Singh, along with the Khalra Mission Organisation, Sikh Sadbhavna Dal and Alliance of Sikh Organisations on February 28, 2024 organised the first ever ‘insaf yatra’ or ‘justice march’ in the memory of the Saka Nakodar victims.
Baldev Singh along with Sikh organisations during the insaf yatra on February 28. Photo: Special arrangement.
Jaswant Khalra’s wife Bibi Paramjit Kaur, who is a voice against extrajudicial killings, had been supporting the victims of Saka Nakodar.
Following the justice march, they also sent a letter to Mann reminding him of his promise to provide them justice and sought a discussion on this case in the Punjab government’s budget session beginning from March 1, 2024.
“We decided to organise the insaf yatra on the same route from the Gurdwara Sahib in Sherpur to the Gurdwara Sri Guru Arjan Dev in Mohalla Nanakpura, Nakodar … where the four youths had carried a peaceful march on February 4, 1986”, Baldev Singh said.
Interestingly, when Baldev Singh and the Sikh organisations were carrying out the insaf yatra, Mann was also in Nakodar for a state government program.
It was learnt that the Jalandhar rural police asked Baldev Singh’s family to stop the yatra as Mann was in town.
Harinder Singh, the US-based son of Baldev Singh said, “The SSP Jalandhar office sent us a message that we should postpone the insaf yatra. However, when we informed them that it was not possible, they asked us to change the timing of the yatra. It was only when we told the police that our yatra would be held from 10 am to 11:30 am that they allowed us.”
Government withholds Saka Nakodar X page
The Saka Nakodar 1986 X (formerly Twitter) page, run by Harinder Singh from the US, was withheld in India.
Speaking to The Wire, Harinder Singh said that it was either a fallout of the ongoing farmers’ protest under which many social media accounts were being withheld by the Indian government, or the recent presentation of their case at the Congressional briefing on transnational repression in Washington, D.C. on February 14, 2024.
“We received an email from X on February 20 stating that ‘in the interest of transparency, we are writing to inform you that X has received a legal removal demand from the Government of India regarding your X account @sakanakodar that claims the following content violates India’s Information Act 2020’,” Harinder Singh added.
