The Tribune: Punjab: Friday, June 08, 2018.
It took 13
long years and around 20,000 RTI applications for Iqbal Singh of Rasulpur
village in Jagraon to first prove himself and his three relatives innocent in a
case of murder and now obtain an order for registration of a case against a
policeman and three others for allegedly abducting, torturing and keeping them
in illegal detention.
On May 28,
the National Commission for Scheduled Castes ordered (copy received on
Thursday) registration of a case against Sub-Inspector GS Bal (posted in
Jagraon) and three others on Iqbal’s complaint. The panel also ordered a
compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the four victims.
However, all
this will perhaps be not sufficient enough to make good the loss that Iqbal and
his relatives have suffered. The alleged police torture has left Iqbal’s sister
Satwant Kaur permanently disabled. His mother Surinder Kaur and sister-in-law
(brother’s wife) have also not been able
to overcome the mental scars that they got during their illegal detention. The
commission decided in favour of Iqbal Singh on the basis of three police
inquiries and a report by the CID, Ludhiana. The commission took cognisance of
a CID report and a Vigilance inquiry. The Punjab State Information Commission
has imposed a fine of Rs 45,000 on a former SSP of Jagraon for not supplying
documents sought by Iqbal Singh under the RTI Act.
Iqbal Singh
also happens to be one of the few civilians to get a Police Commendation
Certificate for his investigation into this case. “Iqbal Singh has been chosen
for the award as he has done what the police were supposed to do,” said former
DGP Rajinder Singh, while conferring the award on him.
Universal
Human Rights Oganisation (UHRO) president Satnam Singh Dhaliwal, who supported
Iqbal Singh in the struggle, said, “Around 20,000 applications were filed under
the RTI Act alone. The number would go up if those put up before human rights
panels, courts and the SC Commission are also counted.” Iqbal Singh is the UHRO
general secretary now.
He was picked
up by the accused police official and his team on July 21, 2005, Iqbal said.
“However, they booked me a day later for murdering a distant female relative.
That girl had committed suicide and my family had nothing to do with that. Bal
tortured us in illegal detention,” he said.
“While in the
jail, a lawyer (also an undertrial), informed me about the RTI Act. My first
application was to get a copy of the FIR and zimni (police investigation)
record. I got the FIR copy easily, but the zimni record was given to me after
over two years, and that too following an intervention by the court and the
Information Commission. The Jagraon SSP was fined Rs 45,000 for the delay,” he
added. “I got a copy of the CID report that said the victims, including women,
were illegally detained in the absence of women police personnel and falsely
implicated in criminal cases.” That report has been quoted by the SC Commission
in its order, he says.
The order
also quotes DGP-PSHRC Rajinder Singh’s report. “In a nutshell, it is a classic
case of human rights’ violation. They had to undergo indescribable physical and
mental torture, harassment and disrepute,” he said.
The panel has
directed the police to take action within 15 days. GS Bal, posted as the SHO,
Sanaur, in Patiala district, said, "They never summoned me. Iqbal Singh
got acquitted in the murder case as witnesses had turned hostile. Earlier also,
he had moved the SC panel. Iqbal has concealed facts. I will contest the case
as I am innocent.”
Path to
freedom
Iqbal Singh
and his three relatives were implicated in a case of murder in 2005
In the jail,
he came to know about the RTI Act and then went on to file around 20,000 RTI
applications, collecting various documents and information
He utilised
those documents to get released in the case in 2010 and finally got an order
passed by SC Commission (on May 28, 2018) for registration of a case against a
cop and three others
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