PDAP Files PIL in Supreme Court Regarding Enforced Disappearances In Punjab – Press Release
Petition filed in Supreme Court of 8000 Killings & Disappearances by the Punjab Police During Militancy & Screening of Documentary Punjab Disappeared in Amritsar
Date: 7 July 2019, at 5:30 PM
Sub: Documentary Screening &Press Conference at 5:30 PM today at the Indian Academy of Fine Arts, Madan Mohan Malviya Road, Amritsar.
A PIL concerning disappearances & fake encounters of over 8,527 Punjabis has been filed in the Supreme Court by the Punjab Documentation & Advocacy Project (PDAP) following a 10-year investigation of cases of abduction, illegal detention & extra-judicial killings during the period of militancy in Punjab between 1984-95. The announcement coincides with the screening of Punjab Disappeared (Laapta Punjab) which details the investigation and the victims’ struggle for justice & accountability. The PDAP has uncovered new & compelling evidence of 6,140 illegal cremations of dead bodies by the Punjab police that took place between 1984-95 in 14 of Punjab’s 22 districts. The Supreme Court petition also provides evidence of 1,400 encounter FIRs which claim that the victims were unidentified militants. However, our investigation revealed that the identities were known to the police and the victims were murdered in police custody.
The petition also identifies hundreds of these victims across Punjab who were cremated as ‘unidentified & unclaimed’ & provides on evidential basis for the setting up of a ‘Truth Commission’ to uncover as many as 25,000 victims who disappeared in Punjab during the period of militancy. The documentation, investigation & data-analysis presented in the PIL is one of the largest exercises of human rights data collection and investigation into mass cremations undertaken in India.
We would like to cordially invite members of the Press for a press conference & screening of documentary ‘Punjab Disappeared’, a documentary that shines new light on the decade of disappearances, extra-judicial killings & secret mass cremations in Punjab, highlighting how mainly young men between the ages of 16 and 35 were abducted by the Punjab police.
It traces PDAP’s work in furthering the pioneering work of murdered Punjab human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra & gives fresh hope to survivors in their 25-year struggle for justice.
Link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rONhLvZXqII&t=34s
Link to video with audience reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Xhy48Dkyw&t=4s
About the Organisers: PDAP is an independent human-rights group that is committed to advancing the cause of human rights, justice & accountability for victims of enforced disappearances in Punjab.
For further information please mail: [email protected] or call: Satnam Singh Bains, Barrister & Advocate: +91-8860268853; Jagjit Singh, Advocate: +91-9988227597
