India: Three reports of deaths in custody and “disappearances” in Punjab

AI is concerned about persistent allegations that suspected members or sympathizers of armed opposition groups, or their relatives, have been killed in police custody in Punjab, often after torture. Their deaths or “disappearances” are often attributed by officials to an armed “encounter” between militants and police, or to an “escape” during such an encounter. Three such incidents are described here: the death on 6 August 1991 of Avtar Singh, arrested on 25 July 1991; the “disappearance” in police custody on 3 January 1993 of Gurdev Singh Kaonke, a former high priest of the Akal Takht (a Sikh religious body) – the police claim that he escaped but his relatives believe that he was tortured to death; and the alleged beating to death of Harjinder Kaur on 11 August 1992.

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