3 decades on, son seeks registration of Jathedar Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaonke’s murder case

More than three decades after Jathedar Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaonke was allegedly killed, his son has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the registration of a case for murder and other offences in the matter. Taking up the matter, Justice Sanjay Vashisth of the high court today fixed July 28 for further hearing.In his petition, son Hari Singh Sekhon was seeking the registration of a criminal case for the illegal detention, torture in police custody, and murder of his father by Jagraon police in the “interest of justice.”The petitioner through counsel Gursahib Singh Hundal alleged that Kaonke was killed in cold blood after being kept in illegal custody from December 25, 1992 to January 2, 1993.

Going into the background of the matter, he alleged that his father, then 43, was arrested and taken to the police station, where he was tortured till December 28, 1992. He was neither produced in court nor released from custody.

A Warrant Officer, appointed by the high court, visited Jagraon police station and inquired about his whereabouts but could not be located there. Subsequently, it was alleged that Kaonke on January 2, 1993, was being taken in a police jeep for the recovery of the arms and ammunition, when some unidentified persons started firing, which was returned by the police party in self-defence. It was further alleged that during the course of firing Kaonke escaped from police custody.

“Since that date, Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaonke has never been seen alive”. On the contrary, eyewitnesses later made statements to the police and the media, stating that Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaonke had been seen by them badly tortured in police station and they firmly believed that he had “died in police custody due to police torture, and to hush up the matter, the Police had disposed of his body”.