AMRITSAR SAHIB, Punjab—A local Court of Amritsar headed by Justice Gurbir Singh has directed the Union government of India as well as state government of Punjab to compensate the prisoners of Jodhpur jail for illegally detaining them. The compensation amount has been fixed Rupees 4 lakh for each of the 40 prisoners.
It is noteworthy here that as per Government’s official record 365 persons were arrested during Indian army’s attack on the holiest Sikh shrine. All of them were primarily kept in Army’s torture centres at undisclosed locations and were later moved to Jodhpur jail of Rajasthan.
In its verdict, the Court observed that there was no evidence that army made any announcements asking ordinary civilians to leave Golden Temple complex before launching the operation in 1984. The Court’s judgement also reads that neither there was any proof of public announcement by the city’s civil authorities requesting the ordinary devotees to come out of sanctum sanctorum Sri Harmandir Sahib nor any log of vehicle used by civil authorities for announcement is there.
The Court’s verdict further reads, “The plaintiff is entitled to interest on the compensation amount at the rate of 6% per annum from the date of filling the suit till today. The plaintiff is further entitled to future interest at same rate from the date of decision till actual realization of the decretal amount.”
Meanwhile, the SGPC president Prof. Kirpal Singh Badungar has warmly welcomed the Court’s verdict stating it as a victory of truth. He has announced to honour Advocate Bhagwant Singh Sialka who acted as a legal counsel of 40 Jodhpur prisoners in this case.
On being contacted by Sikh24, Prof. Badungar said that the Army attack on Sri Darbar Sahib and Sri Akal Takht Sahib was inhuman and detaining innocent Sikhs was unfair. He added that the victims of state’s atrocities had to struggle for so long to get justice.
Out of the 365 prisoners, some have passed away, while others are forced to live in harsh situations. One such prisoner is Dara Singh, who is trying to make ends meet by driving a rickshaw. Dara SIngh hails from village Daban wala near Batala. He was arrested and kept in a torture cell. His elder brother Bhai Chanchal Singh and other family members were killed in the attack.
Everyone should appreciate the efforts of individuals to get justice for the victims.The problem is our leadership which happens to be SGPC. They have been totally pathetic and have done nothing for the victims and to top it all they have destroyed our history.These people didn’t spend any time or energy to come up with the exact number of persons killed or arrested so the world could see what this government did to sikhs.Even in this case President of SGPC is appreciating the efforts of the individuals is fine, but as the judgement makes it clear Indian army as well as police were guilty of crimes against humanity and he should be concentrating on filling cases against the Indian army and the police officials. But I don’t see that coming.