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Punjabi government records suggest that from 1984 until 1994 mass cremations were used by state security forces in Punjab to dispose of thousands of people "disappeared" for their alleged involvement in the Sikh militancy movement.

Discovery of mass cremations

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In early 1995, human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra used municipal records to expose over 6,000 secret cremations in one Punjab district alone[1]. Later, a Central Bureau of Investigation report admitted to 2,097 of these cases as "illegal cremations"[2].

Khalra's documentary evidence consisted of entries in firewood purchase registers from three crematoria in Amritsar district of Punjab. Police officials deposited bodies and purchased a specified 300 kilograms of wood required to burn a single body. The registries identify the names of the officers depositing the bodies and, in some cases, even identifies the bodies.

After a writ petition filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court impelling it to investigate such mass illegal cremations was rejected, Jaswant Singh Khalra and Jaspal Singh Dhillon brought the case to the Supreme Court. In April 1995, the Committee for Information and Initiative on Punjab (CIIP)filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court to demand a comprehensive inquiry into the mass cremations. Shortly thereafter, Khalra was abducted and killed. The Central Bureau of Investigations was ordered by the Supreme Court to investigate the crimes[3].

National Human Rights Commission investigation

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When the CBI's report disclosed 2097 illegal cremations in Amritsar district, the Supreme Court referred the matter of secret cremations in Punjab, along with the more general matter of police abductions and disappearances, to India's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)[4]. However, for the next several years the CIIP, NHRC, and the Government of India engaged in a legal battle over the proper jurisdiction and duties of the Commission [5].

In early 1999, the NHRC itself placed both a territorial restriction on its investigation (it limited it to three crematoria in Amritsar district), and it limited itself to the study of the cremations[6]. Though victims' families and human rights organizations have claimed that the Commission has flouted the rights to life and redress, enshrined in the Constitution of India and international law, there has been no admission of liability or inquiry into the facts, and victims' families were allowed to file claims only for a limited time. The police have admitted custody of a small percentage of victims, but have maintained that the detainees were killed in cross-fire after militants attacked police convoys searching for hidden weapons[7].

Current situation

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Many of the claims filed have been ignored by the Commission, many people alleged to be illegally cremated have been left unidentified, and the Commission has limited itself only to the investigation of the legality of the cremations, ignoring the question of whether the police had wrongfully killed those cremated. Despite efforts by human rights groups such as the CIIP, Human Rights Watch[8], the Physicians for Human Rights, and Bellevue/NYU School of Medicine Program for Survivors of Torture[9], the NHRC has effectively closed the case, and has not investigated any cremations cases or recorded the testimony of victims' families.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ The Punjab Mass Cremations Case: India Burning the Rule of Law (PDF). Ensaaf. 01/2007. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Public notice issued by the National Human Rights Commission". The Tribune. 07/15/2004. Retrieved 2009-04-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Supreme Court of India Record of Proceedings, Writ Petition (Crl.) No 497/95 Paramjit Kaur, Petitioner(s) v. State of Punjab & ORS, Respondant(s)". 12/12/1996. Retrieved 2009-04-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Supreme Court of India Record of Proceedings, Writ Petition (Crl.) No 497/95 Paramjit Kaur, Petitioner(s) v. State of Punjab & ORS, Respondant(s)". 12/12/1996. Retrieved 2009-04-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "National Human Rights Commission: Punjab Mass Cremations Case". Ensaaf. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
  6. ^ India: Break the Cycle of Impunity and Torture in Punjab (PDF). Amnesty International. 01/2003. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Order of the National Human Rights Commission, Reference Case No. 1/97/NHRC". New Delhi. 10/09/2006. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ "Brief to Indian National Human Rights Commission" (PDF). Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights. 11/14/2003. Retrieved 2009-04-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Evaluation of Litigants Pertaining to Writ Petition (Crl.) No. 447/95 Committee for Information and Initiative on Punjab vs. State of Punjab (PDF). Physicians for Human Rights and the Bellevue/NYU School of Medicine Program for Survivors of Torture. 10/24/2005. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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