DSGMC to fight case of Pilibhit torture victims

AMRITSAR: The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has initiated the process of taking up the case of the Pilibhit district jail Sikh inmates who were subjected to torture, resulting in seven deaths and injuries to 21, on the intervening night of November 8-9, 1994.

Pilibhit victim Trilok Singh (left) and his brother Lakhwinder Singh in Amritsar on Monday. Tribune photo: Vishal Kumar

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 30

The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has initiated the process of taking up the case of the Pilibhit district jail Sikh inmates who were subjected to torture, resulting in seven deaths and injuries to 21, on the intervening night of November 8-9, 1994.

They were all detained under TADA for their alleged links with terrorist activities that could never be established. The DSGMC will seek a CBI inquiry through the Supreme Court, a case of murder against the jail staffers and monetary compensation.

It has announced to bear the entire expense of the legal fight and the boarding and lodging of the victims.

DSGMC president Manjit Singh GK said senior advocate Gurbax Singh and retired Justice RS Sodhi would take a lead role.

The legal cell incharge and adviser to DSGMC, Jaswinder Singh Jolly, said the case would be filed in the Supreme Court in June on behalf of those who died and those who became disabled. “A victim, Trilok Singh, approached us lately. He narrated how he was tortured and his brother died in jail. Likewise, the statements of other victims would be put on record. We have approached the UP government to obtain chargesheets and other relevant documents,” he said.

Trilok Singh was left permanently disabled while his younger brother Sarbjit Singh was brutally beaten to death by the jail staff. Trilok Singh and his elder brother Lakhwinder Singh, who retired from the BSF, said they could now see a ray of hope to get justice. Lakhwinder too was rounded up then, but was let off after two days.

At present, Trilok (55) and his wife Kuldeep Kaur live along with the families of his two younger brothers in a dingy room at Rasulpur Kalan village in Jandiala in Amritsar. He has no source of income due to his disability. He claimed that the SGPC had announced a monetary compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the kin of those who were killed in Pilibhit jail, but gave just Rs 11,000 to them and Rs 5,000 to the disabled.