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Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 7
It took 13 long years and around 20,000 RTI applications for Iqbal Singh of Rasulpur village in Jagraon to first prove himself and his three relatives innocent in a case of murder and now obtain an order for registration of a case against a policeman and three others for allegedly abducting, torturing and keeping them in illegal detention.
On May 28, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes ordered (copy received on Thursday) registration of a case against Sub-Inspector GS Bal (posted in Jagraon) and three others on Iqbal’s complaint. The panel also ordered a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the four victims.
However, all this will perhaps be not sufficient enough to make good the loss that Iqbal and his relatives have suffered. The alleged police torture has left Iqbal’s sister Satwant Kaur permanently disabled. His mother Surinder Kaur and sister-in-law (brother’s wife) have also not been able to overcome the mental scars that they got during their illegal detention. The commission decided in favour of Iqbal Singh on the basis of three police inquiries and a report by the CID, Ludhiana. The commission took cognisance of a CID report and a Vigilance inquiry. The Punjab State Information Commission has imposed a fine of Rs 45,000 on a former SSP of Jagraon for not supplying documents sought by Iqbal Singh under the RTI Act.
Iqbal Singh also happens to be one of the few civilians to get a Police Commendation Certificate for his investigation into this case. “Iqbal Singh has been chosen for the award as he has done what the police were supposed to do,” said former DGP Rajinder Singh, while conferring the award on him.
Universal Human Rights Oganisation (UHRO) president Satnam Singh Dhaliwal, who supported Iqbal Singh in the struggle, said, “Around 20,000 applications were filed under the RTI Act alone. The number would go up if those put up before human rights panels, courts and the SC Commission are also counted.” Iqbal Singh is the UHRO general secretary now.
He was picked up by the accused police official and his team on July 21, 2005, Iqbal said. “However, they booked me a day later for murdering a distant female relative. That girl had committed suicide and my family had nothing to do with that. Bal tortured us in illegal detention,” he said.
“While in the jail, a lawyer (also an undertrial), informed me about the RTI Act. My first application was to get a copy of the FIR and zimni (police investigation) record. I got the FIR copy easily, but the zimni record was given to me after over two years, and that too following an intervention by the court and the Information Commission. The Jagraon SSP was fined Rs 45,000 for the delay,” he added. “I got a copy of the CID report that said the victims, including women, were illegally detained in the absence of women police personnel and falsely implicated in criminal cases.” That report has been quoted by the SC Commission in its order, he says.
The order also quotes DGP-PSHRC Rajinder Singh’s report. “In a nutshell, it is a classic case of human rights’ violation. They had to undergo indescribable physical and mental torture, harassment and disrepute,” he said.
The panel has directed the police to take action within 15 days. GS Bal, posted as the SHO, Sanaur, in Patiala district, said, "They never summoned me. Iqbal Singh got acquitted in the murder case as witnesses had turned hostile. Earlier also, he had moved the SC panel. Iqbal has concealed facts. I will contest the case as I am innocent.”
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