Ajit Singh

Residence: Killi Bodla, Zira, Firozpur

Education: College degree

Married: Yes

Children: 2

Religion: Sikh, Kesdhari

Caste: Jat

Location of Sahedi: Zira, Firozpur, Makhu, Dharamkot, Mallanwala

Forces involved: Punjab Police, CRPF, Army
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Please check attached video:

This rare oral history and archival film tells the story of a family in Killi Bodla village, from Firozpur district in Punjab, India.

During the separatist insurgency, militants forcibly entered their home and coerced the family into serving them a meal.

Local police arrived at the scene shortly before nightfall that tragic day in October 1991.

[Dalbir Singh:]

Fake police encounters occurred by picking up people from homes.

They couldn't capture the actual [militants], they were impossible to catch.

If they saw any healthy young man, they’d pick him up and kill him in a fake police encounter.

[Ravinder Singh:]

I was one-and-a-half years old at the time of the incident.

I can tell you what I know, based on the information I have received.

I was one-and-a-half years old at which point seven of my family members were killed.

My mother, paternal grandfather, two uncles, and one great-grandmother.

I can only tell you what I know.

In total, seven family members were killed at that time.

After that, I went to my mother's family home.

My father had a second marriage.

After that, I didn't stay with him. Now, I live with my mother's family, at my Masi's (aunt's) house.

[My father] had a second marriage and went to Canada. I live here with my [Masi (aunt)].

I make my living here; through whatever means necessary.

Ravinder Singh and his granduncle, Dalbir Singh, lost 7 family members in a police attack on October 7, 1991.

Ravinder Singh's mother, Manjit Kaur, and his great-grandmother, Iqbal Kaur.

Both of Ravinder Singh's grandparents, Ajit Singh and Lakhwinder Kaur.

Ravinder Singh's grand-aunt and Dalbir Singh's wife, Jaswinder Kaur.

Dalbir Singh's two sons, Sukhwinder Singh and Rajwinder Singh.

An Oral History, Spoken in May 2013, by Dalbir Singh, Ravinder Singh, and Jasbir Kaur

[Jasbir Kaur:]

The militants came by force.

They ate at my Taiya (uncle) ji, Ajit Singh's house.

At that point, the police came.

There was no encounter.

Police officers were killed when the militants fired from inside.

The police had surrounded the house.

When two police officers were killed, the militants made their escape.

Angry over the killings of the police officers by the militants, the [police] began to take that anger out on the family.

From there, I watched everything unfold in front of my eyes.

The encounter started at five o’clock. Gunfire continued for 10 minutes.

The police did not fire first. The militants fired first.

The militants ran away. The militants had locked the entire family in this room.

After that, about half-an-hour later, [the police] took all of the family members out of the room.

[The militants had] put the entire family inside [this] room, and locked it from the outside.

After that, when the family was removed, I witnessed everything from a distance of 1.5 acres.

Both of my brothers were present. My mother, Jaswinder Kaur. My paternal grandmother, Iqbal Kaur. My aunt, Lakhwinder Kaur and my aunt's daughter-in-law, Manjit Kaur.

They took the entire family. Only Ajit Singh was not removed [from that room].

After that, they were brought to the fields. [Police] began physically abusing everyone.

After beating them...

My two brothers.

They were both taken to Ajit Singh's home.

At this point, it was around 7 o’clock. We had stopped at Kundan Singh's home at this time.

From there, they continued torturing the family.

I could hear everyone crying. By 7 o'clock, darkness had fallen.

I heard everyone crying and I could see the fires burning.

Then, suddenly at 7:15 PM, the entire family stopped crying all at once.

I witnessed it all night, as all the police in the Firozpur area had assembled here.

After that, the next morning at 6:00 AM, both my paternal grandfather Malook Singh and I, were picked up from Kundan Singh's home by the police.

The Deputy of this area, Dev Raj Sharma, came to us.

He said to my grandfather, "We have killed off your entire family. A three-year old girl is the only survivor. We have eliminated the rest of your family."

He said, "Get up. We are going to shoot you."

We stood up.

Maybe it's because it was during the day, and they couldn't kill us in broad daylight. Perhaps if they had known of our location that night, then we too might have been killed.

After that, at 8:00 AM, they took us from Kundan Singh's home and through our house.

Blood was spilled everywhere. I saw the turbans of my family members just lying about.

My younger brother had come from school.

They beat him and took him from here.

His turban is still with me.

My elder brother, Sukhwinder Singh, his small turban is still with me. It is still stained with blood.

According to Dalbir Singh, Jasbir Kaur's father, before Punjab Police killed them, all the family members, “including the women and children, were unclothed, completely naked, and tied to the tree with chains in Ajit Singh’s courtyard.”

Then, according to Singh, Police “brought the grater from the kitchen in the house and in a very brutal way grated and scraped the arms and legs [of the family members] turn-by-turn and skinned them.”

After that, according to Singh, Police “took tar from the drums of tar in the village and melted it. They took the hot and boiling materials and poured them over their skinned and scraped bodies.”

Then they shot all the family members, including one-year-and-a-half old Ravinder Singh, who managed to survive.

Also, according to Dalbir Singh, “Afterward, in order to declare this beastiality a police encounter, the Punjab Police fired guns at the walls of the house, threw bombs on the ceilings, created large holes [in the house] and fabricated a story that the family members had been killed in the cross-firing of an encounter.”

[Dalbir Singh:]

Why did this occur with your family?

That we fed [militants], and they caused damage to [police], so the [police] retaliated against us.

Can you tell us with more detail as to who you fed?

The militants.

Did they come with your permission?

No, no. There was no permission, it was all force.

No one goes and invites them specifically.

We were in more danger. At least they had weapons. They would fire shots and flee.

It's not as if we could leave our home and go somewhere.

Did they only come to your house, or did they visit other homes in the village?

They roamed the entire village.

If I were involved in this movement, I would have fled so that I could avoid bringing pain to others.

Everyone says that so-and-so's children have died.

A flourishing village should continue to thrive, rather than become desolate.

Those who are going to commit such acts, they are not worried about this. That individual is going to do as he pleases.

[Jasbir Kaur:]

Look here. These are the marks left by the bombs [police] launched through the roof.

What did they throw from the roof?

They threw a bomb through the roof. They threw bombs on all three roofs.

These were thrown after the encounter, at night.

The time was about 6:00 or 6:30, at which time the bombs were thrown onto the roof.

There, where the wooden beam is cracked. Bricks have just been placed there.

The militants exited this room, and stood in front of this door and fired shots.

After that, three militants jumped over this wall over here.

One [militant] took a police officer's weapons, and exited through this outside door.

No police officer chased after them. No police officer tried to stop them.

Joginder Singh had been shot prior, and he fell at a further distance. The other two with him escaped.

The one who exited from this way, he took the police officer's weapons, and exited through the gate.

No police officer tried to chase him. No one tried to stop them at that time.

No police officer chased after them.

Can you tell us whether those militants ever returned and asked about the family?

No, no one came back after that.

Those that ran away at that time, none of them returned.

No militant.

So they never sent you any sort of message?

No, not at all.

What group were those militants associated with?

According to the police officers or news from the newspapers, and from what we heard...they had ties to Nishan Singh.

Nishan Singh was from Makhu. They were linked to him.

What did you witness from a distance?

Brother, I witnessed them crying.

DSP Sharma was beating both of my brothers and taking them to the house. I witnessed him doing this.

My mother stood up and began crying. He said something vulgar and said, "Take them away and shoot them."

I can only speak to what I witnessed outside, I can't tell you what happened inside. I can only assess based on the state of my family's bodies after the fact, to determine the extent of the brutality.

Their clothes were burned. The clothes had been burned from their bodies. Their hands had been tied to stakes in the ground, and had fire applied to them.