Militancy victims want guilty punished

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 25. Ms. Gurmeet Kaur has nothing left in life, but she still has a mission to accomplish -- to see the killers of six members of her family punished. She knows it is a ``difficult task as the killers are enjoying Government's patronage'', but she has decided to fight.

Ms. Kaur is among those 18 families whose members were killed by the Punjab police during the days of militancy and who later refused to accept compensation and instead demanded immediate action against the culprits.

``The Supreme Court, on the basis of a 1996 Central Bureau of Investigation report regarding 2,097 cases of illegal cremations in Amritsar district, had asked the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to examine and determine all the arising issues,'' said the convenor of the Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab, Mr. Ram Narayan Kumar. ``We and the members of these families had asked the NHRC to look into other similar cases in other districts also as the pattern of abuse was the same all over the State.''

But on February 15 the NHRC declined to take up their case thus ``destroying fundamental rights to life and liberty to all citizens and their right to equal protection of law in other 16 districts of Punjab and vitiate its proceedings with invidious discrimination,'' said Mr. Kumar.

Ms. Lakhbir Kaur of Gurdaspur district, has no faith left in justice and the rule of law. And she has a reason -- on March 23, 1993, her only son, Balwinder (18), was picked up by the police when they both were travelling in a bus. Later, he was killed in an encounter just because his name was similar to that of a militant. ``My husband was unable to bear the shock and died a month later.'' And now police officers responsible for the killing have been promoted and now threaten them to withdraw their cases, she added with tears rolling down her cheeks.

``There are around 1,500 such cases which we have found out after a long research and documented it with evidences. By refusing to take cognisance of these cases the NHRC has relinquished an opportunity to end an era of impunity and victimisation,'' said Mr. Kumar.

These victims do not want money but justice. ``What I want is my son. On March 31, 1989, cops in civil clothes picked up Jasvinder from my home. He was kept under illegal detention and never produced in court. After a few days, police informed us that he had committed suicide by shooting himself from a service revolver of a cop,'' said Avtar Kaur from Hoshairpur who does not believe the suicide story, cooked up by police. ``The death of my son is nothing but a cold-blooded murder and the murderers are now posted in high positions.''

Such atrocities would continue if voices were not raised against it, said Mr. Kumar, adding that his organisation had not lost hope. ``We are consulting expert groups and human rights workers to chalk out the future course of action. We will find ways to sustain our search for accountability and justice.''

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