47 policemen get life term for fake encounter killings in Uttar Pradesh

10 Sikh men were rounded up in July 1991 and shot dead.

Balkar Singh, whose brother was killed in the 1991 incident. Photo: Omar Rashid

A quarter of a century is a long time but Balkar Singh, 56, believes it is “never too late for justice”. Mr. Singh’s brother Lakhbinder Singh, a teenager, was among the 10 who were rounded up by the Uttar Pradesh police in 1991 and shot dead in an “encounter,” which has now been proven fake.

With a special CBI court on Monday awarding life sentence to 47 policemen, the chemist from Pilibhit district, which borders Nepal, felt justice was done.

“I welcome the order. In spite of the police threats and financial burden we were subjected to, there was only one thing I craved to know in the last 25 years: the truth. For mere promotion and recognition, the police massacred my brother,” Mr. Singh says.

“However, justice is incomplete without any top officials being punished,” he says. “How can such a planned encounter take place without the knowledge of top officers? I demand strict punishment for them.” Many senior officers, including then district police chief R.D. Tripathi, were not named in the charge sheet, which was filed in 1995.

While the court’s verdict has brought delayed justice to the victims' families, it has brought back haunting memories of July 12, 1991.

Police intercepted a private bus carrying Sikh pilgrims near a bridge in Baduan and pulled out the 10 young men, who were made to board a mini bus. The men were then split into three groups and allegedly gunned down in separate encounters. The police later showed ‘fake’ recovery of arms from them and claimed they were Khalsa terrorists. The bodies of three men were never found, putting the actual number of victims at 13.

The killings led to much outrage and many media reports punched holes in the police version. In May 1992, the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe on a PIL plea by advocate R.S. Sodhi. The prosecution claimed that the police killed the Sikh men to secure promotion.

After a long-drawn battle, CBI special judge Lallu Singh on April 1 convicted all 47 policemen for murder, abduction and criminal conspiracy, among others. Fifty-seven policemen were accused in the crime. Of these, 10 died during the trial. The police took 38 officers into custody.

While the prosecution had called for death sentence to the guilty, Sikh groups have demanded that the families of the victims get Rs. 50 lakh each as compensation.

Bordering Nepal in the Terai region, Pilibhit has a dense population of Sikhs, who settled there after Partition, giving it the tag ‘mini- Punjab.’