After 33 years, when the families of the four Sikh youth killed in what has come to be known as Saka Nakodar, faced the media for the first time yesterday, they sought an Action Taken Report on the Justice Gurnam Singh Enquiry Report into the killings and desecration of Guru Granth Sahib on 2 February 1986, which report was reportedly tabled in the Punjab Legislative Assembly on 5 March 2001 without discussion and debate.

What do families do when a kin of their family is killed while protesting the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib? What can the parents do when a government surreptitiously tables the Report of a Commission –The Justice Gurnam Singh Report, on the floor of the Punjab assembly without any debate whatsoever and without any Action Taken Report, which is mandatory under the Commissions of Inquiry Act? It is a clear case of ‘those were supposed to prosecute were actually taking steps to protect.’ Furthermore, they progressed from protection to promotion by enabling the guilty police and administrative officials to occupy higher posts in the government.

Speaking to media at the Jalandhar Press Club, Baldev Singh –the father of Ravinder Singh Littran, the sister of Jhilman Singh and others asked the Congress government asked the Congress government led by Captain Amarinder Singh to set up a Special Investigative Team on the lines of such a team set up for the Behbal Kalan firing that killed two youth in October 2015.

All these 33 years, the families have lived in pain, running from pillar to post for justice to no avail. The lead provided by the investigative reporting of the then Tribune senior correspondent and now legislator Kanwar Sandhu, who quoted the report, provided the key link to pursue the case and obtain an acknowledgement from the government that the Justice Gurnam Singh report was quietly tabled way back in 2001 by the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The then Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-magistrate of Jalandhar Darbar Singh Guru was patronised by the Shiromani Akali Dal and was given a plum political post in the party. The then SSP Mohammed Izhar Alam was also patronised and supported by the Parkash Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal. The parents of the four Sikh youth killed at the time in cold blood and “without permission” and “without warning” as per the Justice Gurnam Singh Report, namely Ravinder Singh of Littran, Baldhir Singh of Ramgarh, Jhilman Singh of Gorsian and Harminder Singh of Chlupur, told the media that “the role of Darbara Singh Guru, Izhar Alam and all other high and low ranking police personnel needs thorough investigation.

5 Birs of Guru Granth Sahib were burnt in Nakodar on February 2 1986 in a local Gurdwara. The four Sikh youth were part of the Sangat which was proceeding to collect the burnt Birs for immersion, when without provocation; the police opened indiscriminate firing on the crowd on 4 February 1986. While the firing killed two of the youth on the spot, two others were chased and killed by the police. The bodies were all cremated in a hush by the police without information to the families.

“An appropriate closure to the case will bring peace and tranquility to the parents and families of the Sikh youth whose life was cut short in the line of their religious commitment towards Guru Granth Sahib. We also want the government to frame fresh guidelines to ensure that such actions by the police do not recur in the future.”

Baldev Singh, father of Ravinder Singh Littran, martyr Saka Nakodar 1986

Throughout the last three decades, all the families, relatives, neighbours and Sikh organizations have been observing annual prayer meetings coinciding with the date of their martyrdom. The Sikh community has accorded martyr status and their photos adorn the historic Sikh Museum in Amritsar.  The photographs of the martyrs have also been portrayed in a Gurdwara in the Bay area of USA.

Bowing before peoples’ protests and anger over the police firing, the government of Surjit Singh Barnala had set up the Justice Gurnam Singh Commission, to enquire into the Nakodar killings as well as to go into the details of the desecration of Saroops of Guru Granth Sahib. Alongside the role of the police, the activities of the Punjab Shiv Sena and their supporters in perpetuating the desecration was also meant to be investigated.

The relentless campaign of the victim families has stirred the Punjab administration to act. It is in the fitness of things that appropriate action is taken up without delay.

Though desolate at the way things are done by governments, the families were resolute to get justice. Baldev Singh said, “I may submit that justice never grows old and injustice is always remembered. Peoples and nations are pardoning each other for injustices done in the past. It is in the fitness of things that as the present government in Punjab is showing keenness to bring the Behbal Kalan guilty police officers to justice, it should not hesitate to do the same in the case of the Nakodar killings too. Non-disclosure would lead to a collapse of the systems of justice and the spirit of equality enshrined in the Constitution of India.”

It is comforting to note that cutting across party lines, Kanwar Singh Sandhu, Harvinder Singh Phoolka, Dr. Dharamvir Gandhi, Kultar Singh Sidhwan and Gurpartap Singh Wadala have assisted the victim families to highlight their plight.  Even at the time of the incident in 1986, Kuldip Singh Wadala, Surinder Singh Thammanwal and Surjit Singh Minhas stood by the families.

Speaking to the World Sikh News, Baldev Singh, the father of Ravinder Singh had the last word. He said, “An appropriate closure to the case will bring peace and tranquility to the parents and families of the Sikh youth whose life was cut short in the line of their religious commitment towards Guru Granth Sahib.” “We also want the government to frame fresh guidelines to ensure that such actions by the police do not recur in the future.” he added.