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LFHRI RELEASES SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT REGARDING THE TORTURE OF JASPREET SINGH @ JASSA AND THREE OTHER YOUTH BY CIA STAFF HOSHIARPUR, PUNJAB, INDIA
In continuance to our report dated 21st Aug, the team of Lawyers of “Lawyers For Human Rights International” visited Hoshiarpur jail on 29th Aug 2016 and held a detailed interview with all the 4 tortured inmates. Since on our earlier visit to jail on 21st Aug all the Injured inmates were highly traumatised and our immediate concern was to get them proper medical care, so we had to visit again to get more additional details in supplement to our earlier report, which are as under :-
The first youth, Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa along with the second youth, Hardeep Singh were picked up by the Police on August 5, 2016, when they had gone to the Civil court complex (Tehsil) of Hoshiarpur .Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa is aged approximately 22 years old, is a Denter / Painter by profession and is also a Martial Arts(Gatka)teacher by passion and is married. Hardeep Singh is also around the same age, has a 12th grade education and is not married. The Police men that picked up both the youth came disguised in civilian clothing and took away both Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa and Hardeep Singh from outside of the Tehsil. As per, Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa and Hardeep Singh the police were from CIA staff police station Hoshiarpur and while taking away the boys the police covered the faces of the youth with their hands so that the youth could not be identified by the public while being nabbed. Both Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa and Hardeep Singh were tortured for three consecutive days, they were finally produced in court on August 7, 2016, as such they spent a total of three days in illegal custody of the police.
As per Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa and Hardeep Singh they were nabbed by the CIA Staff Hoshiarpur and brutally tortured at the CIA Hoshiarpur Police Station. As per, Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa he does not know the full names of the Police officials who tortured him, however, he clearly remembers the nick name of one “Bunty”, who has been identified as Gurwinder Singh @ Bunty, Sub Inspector, posted at CIA Staff Hoshiarpur, who was heading around 15-20 men that brutally tortured him. Hardeep Singh on the other hand claims that if these men are shown to him for identification he will be able to identify them.
Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa and Hardeep Singh further elaborated that their torturecontinued for three continuous days, stretching to late hours of the night. They describe their treatment as following;- The moment they were brought inside the CIA staff police station, their religious symbols (Turban, Kirpan and underwear (Kachha), were sadistically removed and thrown on the ground with scant respect to their religious feelings. Next they were dragged and pulled by their hair and brutally tortured by stretching their bodies. The torture ranged from hitting a pair of Slippers on both ears which resulted in temporary loss of hearing, to being repeatedly electrocuted with a hand held electricity generator on various parts of their body including nipples, testicles, earlobes and nostrils. Both Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa and Hardeep Singh recollect that they were made to stand in the rain for hours without any clothes. Repeatedly both the youth were shown pistols by the CIA staff police officials, and while the Police officials cocked the chamber of their respective pistols they told the young boys that, “We will kill you in an false encounter and you will be able to do nothing about it”.
Both Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa and Hardeep Singh vividly remember a man who sat at one end of the room and was responsible for curating the entire torture. It was at this person’s command that all other CIA staff police officials were mercilessly executing the torture. Jaspreet Singh @ Jassa and Hardeep Singh believe that this person was of the rank of Senior Superintendent of Police. His physical description was that of a clean shaven man, who fluently spoke and gave instructions in ‘Hindi’.
The third youth,Kuldeep Singh was picked up by the CIA staff Hoshiarpur from his home in ShakhaMohala near Bhai Joga Singh Gurudwara on August 5, 2016 around 10 PM in the night. Kuldeep Singh has a 7th grade education, is not married and works as a driver of a private vehicle. He was also kept in illegal detention for three days and finally produced in front of the court on August 7, 2016. He too was beaten mercilessly, humiliated, stripped naked and repeatedly electrocuted with the hand wound generator. As per Kuldeep Singh, the three continuous days of torture have scared him for life.
The fourth youth, Bikramjeet Singh is a 25 years old young boy with an Information Technology diploma from Sai college Amritsar and then a 14 months diploma from Singapore in English and Hospitality. Bikramjeet Singh has been in India for about an year now, he in unemployed and not married. On August 7, 2016 he was picked up by the Batala CIA staff police falling in Gurdaspur Police and brutally tortured until August 13, 2016. This makes his illegal detention the longest out of the four youth, i.e. 7 days of illegal detention. According to Bikramjeet Singh, he was tortured brutally and electrocuted multiple times and he can recognize the face of one of the CIA staff police official who was a turbaned police officer with a single star badge on his uniform, tied beard which was slightly turning white in color. Bikramjeet Singh says, that he will be able to identify his torturers if they are ever brought infront of him for identification. He also named a SHO by the name of Jagjit Singh, who had three stars on his uniform who transported him from Tanda to Hoshiarpur and was responsible for torturing Bikramjeet Singh.
To download a copy of the Report dated August 21, 2016 click here :
To download a copy of the Supplementary Report dated August 29, 2016 click here :