Surat Singh Khalsa on fast again for Sikh prisoners’ release

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 24

Surat Singh Khalsa (80), who was released yesterday, has gone on fast again.

Khalsa has been without food since January 16 and was being force-fed since February 27. He is seeking release of 82 Sikh detainees languishing in various jails of the country despite the completion of their sentence.

Sarvinder Kaur confirmed that her father is on fast again. “How can he end fast unless his demands are met? He has not eaten anything since last night and told me that he will continue to do so till all 82 prisoners are not freed by the state government,” she said.

Khalsa was taken to his village Hassanpur. Sarvinder Kaur said she took her father to a doctor in the evening for a medical check-up.

Khalsa was reportedly discharged from the hospital a few hours after Sarvinder Kaur met President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi yesterday. She said the police released her father but there was no intimation when her brother Ravinder Pal Singh would be released.

Ravinderpal, who hails from Chicago, was arrested by the police along with Surinder Singh of Jas Radio America on February 26 from the Civil Hospital after the duo allegedly objected to the police action of using a food pipe to break Surat Singh’s fast.

The police said Ravinder Pal Singh had not applied for bail. Ravinder’s relatives, however, claimed that he was arrested for no crime. “Why should he apply for a bail. Did Ravinderpal break any law? Did he protest against the government? He was merely looking after his father at the Civil Hospital. When he did not commit any offence, why should he seek a remedy from the police,” said Kanwaldeep Singh brother-in-law of Ravinderpal who is settled in the US.

Congress leader Ishwarjot Singh Cheema has condemned the preventive arrest of Ravinderpal Singh. Taking a potshot at the ruling SAD-BJP government, the Congress leader said, “This is a gross violation of human rights by the state government. The Badals have double standards on panthic issues. They snub the voice of those who speak against injustice.”