Khalra Mission: Probe fake encounters

Amritsar, Punjab: The Khalra Mission Organisation today demanded a thorough probe into the fake encounters that took place in the state between 1978 and 1995, while referring to the recent Supreme Court verdict in this regard.

It said the Supreme Court had on April 13 sought the stand of the Centre and all state governments on a plea for an independent probe into all cases of alleged killing by the police in staged shootouts in the past 10 years in the country. Paramjeet Kaur Khalra and Harmandeep Singh Sarhali, the organisation’s patron and chief, respectively, in a letter to the Chief Justice of India, said the state witnessed “large -scale human rights violations between 1978 and 1995 and, therefore, the Supreme Court should order an investigation into the killing of innocent people in Punjab during this period.

“We appreciate the SC ruling of April 13 … but in case of Punjab we feel it has deprived us of justice once again,” reads the letter. The organisation also sent the Chief Justice the names of 36 women “tortured to death” during the dark days of militancy.

Harmandeep Singh Sarhali said they would soon file a petition in the Supreme Court, pleading that all cases of “fake” encounters and human rights violations in the state from 1978 to 1995 be probed.

Source: TNS