Appendix

List of Interviewees (excluding anonymous interviewees)

Agrwaal, Ashok, Advocate of the Supreme Court of India; Delhi, India; Aug. 20, 2001.

Anand, R. L., Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 2, 2001.

Bains, Ajit S., Retired Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 1, 2001.

Bains, Rajvinder S., Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 1, 2001.

Bhagowalia, S. S., Advocate of the District Court of Gurdaspur; Gurdaspur, Punjab; July 25, 2001.

Bhatia, V. P. S., Advocate of the District Court of Amritsar; Amritsar, Punjab; July 27, 2001.

Chahal, A. S., Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 4, 2001.

Dhami, Harjinder S., Advocate of the District Court of Hoshiarpur; Hoshiarpur, Punjab; July 28, 2001.

Dhandi, Harbhajan S., Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 3, 2001.

Dhillon, Balwant S., Petitioner; Gurdaspur, Punjab; July 25, 2001.

Gill, M. S., Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 7, 2001.

Gill, Swinder S., Petitioner; Amritsar, Punjab; July 26, 2001.

Hundal, Puran S., Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 4, 2001.

Kaur, Balbir, Wife of a victim of a disappearance; Gurdaspur, Punjab; July 25, 2001.

Kaur, Baljinder, Wife of a victim of an extrajudicial execution; Ropar, Punjab; July 16, 2001.

Kaur, Baljit, Wife of a victim of a disappearance; Amritsar, Punjab; July 26, 2001.

Kaur, Bhagwant, Mother of a victim of a disappearance; Amritsar, Punjab; July 23, 2001.

Kaur, Dalbir, Petitioner; Gurdaspur, Punjab; July 25, 2001.

Kaur, Gurbachan, Mother of a victim of a disappearance; Amritsar, Punjab; July 23, 2001.

Kaur, Kartar, Mother of a victim of a disappearance; Amritsar, Punjab; July 23, 2001.

Kaur, Kamaljit, Petitioner; Ropar, Punjab; July 14, 2001.

Kaur, Mohinder, Petitioner; Kapurthala, Punjab; July 28, 2001.

Kaur, Palvinder, Mother of a victim of a disappearance; Patiala, Punjab; July 18, 2001.

Kaur, Paramjit, Petitioner; Amritsar, Punjab; July 26, 2001.

Kaur, Rattan, Mother of a victim of a disappearance; Ropar, Punjab; July 16, 2001.

Kaur, Sarabjit, Wife of a victim of a disappearance; Ropar, Punjab; July 17,2001.

Kaur, Sukhwant, Petitioner; Amritsar, Punjab; July 27, 2001.

Kaur, Sukhwinder, Petitioner; Kapurthala, Punjab; July 28, 2001.

Kaur, Surjit, Petitioner; Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab; July 21, 2001.

Lakhanpal, Ranjan, Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 4, 2001.

Mattewal, Hardev S., Advocate General of Punjab; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 9,

Paul, J. S., Advocate of the District Court of Amritsar; Amritsar, Punjab; July 27, 2001.

Sandhu, H. S., Advocate of the District Court of Kapurthala; Kapurthala, Punjab; July 28, 2001.

Sarin, M. L., Senior Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 8, 2001.

Sekhon, J. S., Retired Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 1, 2001.

Sibbal, Hira Lal, Senior Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 7, 2001.

Singh, Amreek, Journalist and human rights activist with Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 2, 2001.

Singh, Giani Anokh, Petitioner; Kapurthala, Punjab; July 28, 2001.

Singh, Balwant, Petitioner; Gurdaspur, Punjab; July 25, 2001.

Singh, Dalip, Brother of a victim of a disappearance; Patiala, Punjab; July 18, 2001.

Singh, Hardev, Brother of a victim of a disappearance; Sangrur, Punjab; July 20, 2001.

Singh, Harpal, Father of a victim of a disappearance; Sangrur, Punjab; July 20, 2001.

Singh, Hazura, Petitioner; Nawanshahar, Punjab; July 28, 2001.

Singh, Jaswinder, Brother, son, grandson of victims of disappearances; Amritsar, Punjab; July 27, 2001.

Singh, Karam, Petitioner; Patiala, Punjab; July 21, 2001.

Singh, Kuldip, Retired Justice of the Supreme Court of India; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 12, 2001.

Singh, Mohinder, Petitioner; Ropar, Punjab; July 14, 2001.

Singh, Navkiran, Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; July 20, 2001.

Singh, Narayan, Cousin of a victim of a disappearance; Gurdaspur, Punjab; July 25, 2001.

Singh, Nasib, Brother of a victim of a disappearance; Ropar, Punjab; July 20, 2001.

Singh, Ram, Petitioner; Sangrur, Punjab; July 19, 2001.

Singh, Ranjodh, Petitioner; Sangrur, Punjab; July 14, 2001.

Singh, Sewa, Petitioner; Amritsar, Punjab; July 26, 2001.

Singh, Principal Tarlochan, Petitioner; Ropar, Punjab; July 16, 2001.

Singhvi, G. S., Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 9, 2001.

Sodhi, Brjinder S., Advocate of the District Court of Patiala; Patiala, Punjab; July 17, 2001.

Sodhi, R. S., Justice of the Delhi High Court and former Advocate of the Supreme Court; Delhi, India; Aug. 20, 2001.

Sodhi, S. S., Retired Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, former Justice of High Court of Punjab and Haryana; Chandigarh, India; Aug. 5, 2001.

Footnotes

[*] J.D. candidate, Harvard Law School Class of 2003; B.A., Yale University, 2000. This Article is based on primary research conducted with the Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP) and funded by the Harvard Human Rights Program Summer Fellowship. I would especially like to thank Harshinder Singh, who conducted this research with me for ten weeks, collecting all of the documents for the ninety cases and traveling through Punjab for the interviews. Amreek Singh, Ram Narayan Kumar, and Tarjinder Pal Singh helped this project come to fruition by contributing guidance and accompanying me on the fieldwork. I would also like to thank the other Committee members who extended their hospitality to me: Sirdar Gurtej Singh, Ashok Agrwaal, Dr. Sukhjit K. Gill, General Narinder Singh, Narayan Singh, and Hardayal Singh.

[1]. I tape-recorded the interviews, unless interviewees requested otherwise. Please see the Appendix for a list of all interviewees, as well as the places and dates of the interviews. I chose the families according to how the judiciary resolved their cases, using the same proportions in the fifteen-family sample as I saw in my ninety-case study. The families also represent a geographical distribution. I interviewed justices and lawyers who had served on the Punjab and Haryana High Court during the relevant time period and had handled habeas corpus petitions.

[2]. Joyce J.M. Pettigrew, The Sikhs of the Punjab: Unheard Voices of State and Guerrilla Violence 5 (1995).
[3]. Human Rights Watch, Punjab in Crisis: Human Rights in India 13–16 (1991).

[4]. Pettigrew, supra note 2, at 7.

[5]. Id.

[6]. Ram Narayan Kumar, The Ghalughara: Operation Blue Star—A Retrospect, 48:11 Sikh Rev. n.558 (June 2000) (excerpt from Reuters Foundation Paper, Green College, Oxford, U.K.), at http://www.sikhreview.org/june2000/tsr8.htm (“Chronicle”).

[7]. See id.

[8]. Id.

[9]. Cynthia Keppley Mahmood, Writing the Bones (June 1999), at http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/main/Human%20Rights/Writing%20The%20Bones.html.

[10]. Tumult in the Punjab, Christian Sci. Monitor, June 7, 1984, at 19.

[11]. Kumar, supra note 6.

[12]. Id.

[13]. Id.

[14]. Id.

[15]. Human Rights Watch, supra note 3, at 20.

[16]. See Mary Anne Weaver, Post-Assassination Violence Against Sikhs in India Was Allegedly Planned, Christian Sci. Monitor, Nov. 15, 1984, at 1.

[17]. Human Rights Watch, supra note 3, at 20.

[18]. Human Rights Watch & Physicians for Human Rights, Dead Silence: The Legacy of Abuses in Punjab 1 (1994).

[19]. Inderjit Singh Jaijee, Politics of Genocide: Punjab 1984–1998, 93 (1999).

[20]. Human Rights Watch & Physicians for Human Rights, supra note 18, at 2.

[21]. Id.

[22]. Id. at 4–5.

[23]. In its Interim Report, the CCDP analyzes its research on 838 disappearance cases. The Committee breaks down the characteristics of people who disappeared in those cases into several tables, detailing age, residence, caste, educational profile, occupational profile, marital status, and destruction of property, among other factors. From the 838-case sample, 558 of the disappeared fell within the age range of fifteen to thirty. Four hundred and thirty-eight disappeared between 1991 and 1993, and 595 victims came from an agricultural background. Ram Narayan Kumar, et al., Enforced Disappearances, Arbitrary Executions and Secret Cremations: Victim Testimony and India’s Human Rights Obligations: Interim Report, 1998 Comm. for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab 37–39.

[24]. Mahmood, supra note 9.

[25]. Ram Narayan Kumar & Cynthia Mahmood, Disappearances in Punjab and the Impunity of the Indian State: A Report on Current Human Rights Efforts, at http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/main/Human%20Rights/dissapinpunjab.htm (Oct. 1, 1998).

[26]. Mahmood, supra note 9.

[27]. Id.

[28]. Kumar, supra note 23, at 81.

[29]. Kumar & Mahmood, supra note 25.

[30]. Id.

[31]. Kumar, supra note 23, at 61–62.

[32]. Id. at 62 n.50.

[33]. Joginder Singh, Without Fear or Favour 295 (1998).

[34]. Section 7 states: No prosecution, suit or other legal proceeding shall be instituted, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government, against any person in respect of anything done or purported to be done in exercise of the powers conferred by this Act. Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh) Special Powers Act (1983).

[35]. Amnesty Int’l, India: Torture, Rape & Deaths in Custody 60 (1992).

[36]. Kumar, supra note 23, at 62.

[37]. Article 356 of the Indian Constitution allows for direct rule by the central government. If the federally appointed governor of the state requests the central government to step in and ensure that the state is governed according to the Constitution, the center can dismiss the elected state legislature. Human Rights Watch, supra note 3, at 17 n.31.

[38]. Kumar, supra note 23, at 61.

[39]. Human Rights Watch, supra note 3, at 23.

[40]. Id. at 24.

[41]. Id. at 25.

[42]. Amit Sharma, Punjab Cops to Return President’s Medals, Hindustan Times (India), Aug. 8, 2001, at 1.

[43]. Placated, Cops Decide Not to Return Medals, Hindustan Times (India), Aug. 14, 2001, at 1.

[44]. Joyce Pettigrew, Parents and Their Children in Situations of Terror: Disappearances and Special Police Activity in Punjab, in Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror 204, 207 (Jeffrey A. Sluka ed., 2000).

[45]. Id. at 207–08.

[46]. Human Rights Watch & Physicians for Human Rights, supra note 18, at 22.

[47]. Amnesty Int’l, supra note 35, at 61.

[48]. Id.; Human Rights Watch & Physicians for Human Rights, supra note 18, at 4.

[49]. Amnesty Int’l, supra note 35, at 71.

[50]. Id. at 63.

[51]. The writ of habeas corpus has also been invoked frequently in Punjab for allegations of torture. This use of the writ differs in the United States, where it is used primarily to compel the production of a detainee after allegations of illegal imprisonment. Black’s Law Dictionary defines the American conception of habeas corpus:

A writ employed to bring a person before a court, most frequently to ensure that the party’s imprisonment or detention is not illegal. . . . In addition to being used to test the legality of an arrest or commitment, the writ may be used to obtain review of (1) the regularity of extradition process, (2) the right to or amount of bail, or (3) the jurisdiction of a court that has imposed a criminal sentence.
Black’s Law Dictionary 712 (7th ed. 1999).

[52]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Harjinder Kaur and Pritam Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1995) (No. 854/1995).

[53]. The different components of the writ, such as the petition, the decision to order an inquiry, the inquiry report, and the final court order, are all filed together under the same docket number and can be collected from the High Court. However, only the final court orders of some cases are published in case reports. As I discovered in my research, the page numbering of the different components was not always clear or uniform in the case files maintained by the High Court, so I have simply cited the docket number. All cases can be accessed in the High Court with this number.

[54]. See, e.g., Romesh Thappar v. Madras, A.I.R. 1950 S.C. 124; K. K. Kochunni v. Madras, A.I.R. 1959 S.C. 725; Ujjam Bai v. Uttar Pradesh, A.I.R. 1962 S.C. 1621, para. 74; Charanjit Lal Chowdhury v. Union of India, A.I.R. 1951 S.C. 41.

[55]. Karnail Singh v. Punjab, (1998) 1 Recent Criminal Reports 462 (Punjab and Haryana H.C.).

[56]. Interview with Mohinder Singh, Petitioner, in Ropar, Punjab. (July 14, 2001).

[57]. See also Writ Pet. (Criminal), Sukhwant Kaur v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1997) (No. 387/1997).

[58]. Interview with Anonymous High Court Justice in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 7, 2001); Interview with Retired Justice J.S. Sekhon, currently serving on the Punjab Human Rights Commission, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 1, 2001).

[59]. India Code Crim. Proc., ch. 20, § 256.

[60]. India Code Crim. Proc., ch. 15.

[61]. India Code Crim. Proc., ch. 16, § 210(1).

[62]. India Code Crim. Proc., ch. 17, § 217(a).

[63]. Interview with V.P.S. Bhatia, Advocate of the District Court of Amritsar, in Amritsar, Punjab. (July 27, 2001); Interview with Harjit S. Sandhu, Advocate of the District Court of Kapurthala, in Kapurthala, Punjab. (July 28, 2001).

[64]. Interview with Brjinder S. Sodhi, Advocate of the District Court of Patiala, in Patiala, Punjab. (July 17, 2001).

[65]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Hazura Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1993) (No. 125/93).

[66]. Interview with Hazura Singh, Petitioner, in Nawanshahar, Punjab. (July 28, 2001).

[67]. Interview with R.L. Anand, Sitting Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 2, 2001).

[68]. See also Amnesty Int’l, India: A Mockery of Justice 2 (1998).

[69]. Interview with Ram Singh, Petitioner, in Sangrur, Punjab. (July 19, 2001).

[70]. Id.

[71]. Amnesty Int’l, supra note 35, at 62.

[72]. Id. at 64.

[73]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Hazura (No. 125/93). See also Writ Pet. (Criminal), Prem Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1995) (No. 872/95).

[74]. Interview with Surjit Kaur, Petitioner, in Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab. (July 21, 2001).

[75]. Id.

[76]. Interview with Amreek Singh, Journalist and Human Rights Activist with Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 2, 2001).

[77]. Interview with Baljinder Kaur, Wife of Victim of Extrajudicial Execution, in Ropar, Punjab. (July 16, 2001).

[78]. Interview with Rajvinder S. Bains, Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 1, 2001).

[79]. Interview with M.S. Gill, Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 7, 2001).

[80]. Interview with Hira Lal Sibbal, Senior Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 7, 2001).

[81]. Id. My interview with M.L. Sarin, Senior Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, reinforced Sibbal’s comments. In the interview, Sarin, who represented the State in Paramjit Kaur v. Punjab (regarding the disappearance of human rights activist Jaswant S. Khalra), stated, “Here in Punjab, it was a small army [police] of about eighty thousand people fighting, and they lost a few thousand of them, and then just because in such a situation of war there will be excesses—any way will have excesses—here, because we have the rule of law, they are reopening this.” Interview with M.L. Sarin, Senior Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 8, 2001).

[82]. Interview with G.S. Singhvi, Sitting Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 9, 2001).

[83]. Human Rights Watch & Physicians for Human Rights, supra note 18, at 5.

[84]. Interview with S.S. Sodhi, Retired Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and Retired Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 5, 2001).

[85]. Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Ass’n v. Punjab, No. 7243/1993 (India May 1996).

[86]. Interview with S.S. Sodhi, supra note 84.

[87]. Kumar & Mahmood, supra note 25.

[88]. Id.

[89]. Id.

[90]. Interview with Ashok Agrwaal, Advocate of the Supreme Court of India, in Delhi, India. (Aug. 20, 2001).

[91]. A detainee was a proclaimed offender if he had been charged with a crime, did not appear in court, and could not be found. By “recovery of weapons,” the policemen alleged that the detainee was a criminal who had knowledge of weapons hidden by the militants. They would take the detainee along with them to recover the weapons.

[92]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Balwant Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1996) (No. 1108/96).

[93]. Pettigrew, supra note 2, at 13; see also Amnesty Int’l, supra note 35, at 67–68.

[94]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Karnail Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1996) (No. 1019/96).

[95]. Id.; see also Writ Pet. (Criminal) G.S. Mavi and Baldev Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1996) (No. 1547/96).

[96]. Interview with Anonymous High Court Justice in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 7, 2001).

[97]. Criminal Miscellaneous Pet., Swinder Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C.) (1997) (No. 25097-M/97).

[98]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Surjit Kaur v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1995) (No. 10151/95).

[99]. D. K. Basu v. West Bengal, (1997) 1 Recent Criminal Reports 372, 379–80 (India).

[100]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Kashmir Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1994) (No. 691/1994); see also Writ Pet. (Criminal), Dalbara v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1997) (No. 10250-M/97).

[101]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Chandan Kumar Banik v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1992) (No. 107/92).

[102]. Id.

[103]. Writ Pet. (Criminal) Swaran Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1996) (No. 236/96).

[104]. Human Rights Watch & Physicians for Human Rights, supra note 18, at 25.

[105]. Id. at 25.

[106]. Jaijee, supra note 19, at 102.

[107]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Harjinder (No. 854/95).

[108]. Id.

[109]. See Amnesty Int’l, supra note 35 at 55–56.

[110]. Interview with R.L. Anand, supra note 67.

[111]. Interview with Ashok Agrwaal, supra note 90.

[112]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Ram Chand Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1995) (No. 814/95).

[113]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Harjinder (No. 854/75).

[114]. Id.

[115]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Kashmir (No. 691/1994).

[116]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Bachan Singh v. Punjab (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1995) (No. 92/95).

[117]. Writ Pet. (Criminal), Navkiran Singh & Ors. v. Punjab (India 1994) (No. 242-258/94).

[118]. Interview with Ranjan Lakhanpal, Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 4, 2001).

[119]. Interview with Harjinder S. Dhami, Advocate of the District Court of Hoshiarpur, in Hoshiarpur, Punjab. (July 28, 2001).

[120]. Interview with A.S. Chahal, Advocate of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 4, 2001).

[121]. Interview with Rajvinder S. Bains, supra note 78.

[122]. Writ Pet.’s (Criminal), Paramjit Kaur v. Punjab (India 1994) (No. 44/1994) and (India 1995) (No. 497/1995).

[123]. Amnesty Int’l, India: Submission to the Advisory Committee Established to Review Provisions of the Protection of Human Rights Act 7–8 (1998).

[124]. Id. at 6.

[125]. Id. at 11.

[126]. Id.

[127]. Id. at 11.

[128]. Amnesty Int’l, India: A Vital Opportunity to End Impunity in Punjab 6 (1999).

[129]. Id. at 7.

[130]. Id. at 2.

[131]. Press Release, Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab, The Proposals of Settlement in the Illegal Cremations Matter: The Victims Reject the Miscarriage of Justice by the National Human Rights Commission (Dec. 9, 2000) (on file with author).

[132]. Id.

[133]. Id.

[134]. Interview with Nasib Singh, Brother of Victim of Disappearance, in Ropar, Punjab. (July 20, 2001). Several other interviewees criticized Badal for his breach of this promise.

[135]. See Writ Pet. (Civil), Sudershan Goel v. Union of India and Others (Punjab and Haryana H.C. 1998) (No. 14133/1998).
[136]. Id.

[137]. Id.

[138]. Id.

[139]. Interview with Rajvinder S. Bains, supra note 78.

[140]. Interview with Anonymous High Court Justice in Chandigarh, India. (Aug. 7, 2001).

[141]. Open Letter from Anne Burley, Amnesty International, to Lal Krishna Advani, Minister of Home Affairs, Government of India (Aug. 24, 2001).

[142]. Martha Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness 23 (1998).

[143]. Alien Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1350 (2000).

[144]. Priscilla B. Hayner, Unspeakable Truths: Confronting State Terror and Atrocity 101 (2001).

[145]. Interview with Paramjit Kaur, Petitioner, in Amritsar, Punjab. (July 26, 2001).

[146]. Id.