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NHRC tells Punjab govt to order CBI probe into youth's killing

The National Human Rights Commission has directed the government to order a CBI inquiry into the killing of a youth by the Punjab police in a ''fake encounter'' and asked the state government to pay an interim relief of Rs 200,000 to the victim's family.

NHRC sources said the commission asked the department of personnel of the Union government to direct CBI to undertake the investigation to identify the motive behind the killing of the political activist Kashmira Singh, and to bring those responsible to book. It said the Punjab government should accord its concurrence to such a probe in view of the strong prima facie evidence of police high- handedness in the death of Kashmira Singh.

The commission also asked the state government to pay a sum of Rs 200,000 as interim relief to the wife of the deceased within four weeks. Out of the amount, Rs 50,000 should be paid in cash while Rs 150,000 should be deposited for five years in a nationalised bank and only the interest accruing on it should be paid to the beneficiary for her maintenance and upkeep.

The victim's father, Ajit Singh, had filed a complaint before the commission that a police party forcibly entered his house and rounded up him and his son, who was an activist of the youth wing of Akali Dal, and bundled them into a jeep. While Ajit Singh was dropped from the jeep a little distance away, Kashmira Singh was killed in a fake encounter by the Tarn Taran police on the night of March 14, 1997.

However, senior superintendent of police of Tarn Taran, in a report submitted to the NHRC, alleged that Kashmira was a gang member of the Khalistan Commando Force-Panjawar and when the police tried to arrest him at Pandori Rukman village near Hoshiarpur, he attacked the police party with a sword resulting in injuries to three policemen. He said that the police fired in self-defence as a result of which Kashmira Singh was killed.

Meanwhile, a team of the investigation division of the NHRC made a spot inquiry of the incident which revealed that Kashmira Singh, who was an active member of the Akali Dal-Mann, allegedly became a victim of the political conspiracy to liquidate him by terming him as a ''terrorist'' though he had no past police record.

Besides, a minute and careful study of the nature of gunshot injuries shown in the post-mortem report indicated that the shots were fired at him from close range as black spots were found near the point of entry. The nature of injuries also revealed that they could be caused only if only the victim was in a sitting position and not if he was standing or engaged in resisting arrest.

It also appeared to the NHRC team that the group of 17 police personnel involved in the case was more than sufficient to overpower kashmira Singh, who, admittedly, was not in possession of any firearms.

On perusal of the report of the investigation division, the NHRC found that the claim of the Tarn Taran police that Kashmira Singh was killed in self-defence and in a genuine encounter was not credible but spurious. ''Rather, the evidence suggested that the victim was killed in a pre-planned way, pursuant to a pre-existing design in what prima facie appears to be a case of culpable homicide amounting to murder,'' the NHRC said and asked the government to order a thorough probe by the CBI into the case, the sources added.

UNI

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