Two days after a special CBI court convicted and sentenced two Punjab Police officers for the fake encounter killing of a 15-year-old boy 26 years ago, the victim’s mother on Friday said she hoped the guilty policemen were made to serve the full sentence of life term handed to them. Raghubir Singh, the then Station House Officer (SHO) of Beas police station, and Dara Singh, a sub-inspector at the same police station at the time of the encounter, were convicted and sentenced to life term for killing 15-year-old Harpal Singh at Nijjar village in Amritsar district on September 18, 1992. Living at the house of her son-in-law Malkiat Singh, retired from Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), in village Kot Baghta in Gurdaspur, Harpal’s mother Balwinder Kaur (70) said, “I had adopted Harpal Singh as I had no son. He was sleeping when the police came to our house in the morning. His hands were tied and he was dragged into the police car in front of all villagers. Inspector Ram Lubhaya was heading the police party. There was such terror of police at the time that no villager dared ask them why they were taking away Harpal Singh.” “We didn’t get any clue of him. After five days, our neighbour came with a newspaper copy in which it was published that Harpal was killed in an encounter near village Nijjar of Amritsar. We didn’t get his body, only got ashes. One day, my son came to my dream and told me those ashes were not of his. Harpal was a baptised Sikh and it must be the reason he was chosen for the fake encounter,” said Kaur, who is a heart patient. Kaur’s husband had died in 1984 due to heart attack. Malkiat Singh said, “I was deployed with ITBP at that time and had married with Rajbir Kaur (Balwinder’s daughter) just five months back. There were no telephone at that time. I and my wife came to know about it only after he was dead. I had no time to use my ITBP contacts to save his life. Later, I came to know he was tortured at the infamous detention centre at Mall Mandi in Amritsar before being killed.” “We never hoped we would get justice. Then one day, an activist came to our home and collected the information. They themselves filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and a case was initiated,” he said. “I wish Ram Lubhaya (the main accused in the case who died during the trial) were alive to hear this judgment. Anyways, at least it has been proved that my son was innocent,” said Balwinder Kaur. The family fears the attempts by the state government and the Punjab Police to get relief for the convicted policemen may undo the justice given by the court. Malkiat Singh said, “There are media reports that the Punjab government and the Punjab Police are approaching the central government to get relief for such police officers who are convicted in human rights violation cases. If it happens, then these two accused, who killed a 15-year-old boy, will also be saved.”
