Sumedh Saini Murdabad
/
Sumedh Saini with his mentor kps gill
It would be a mistake to say india’s hand picked killer of Sikhs is on the run from the system that protected him his entire life, the system that enabled his escape from redundant indian courts. Sumedh Saini is running from the Sikhs that the indian state has protected him from, now that his protection cannot be publicly justified.
Sumedh Saini is the former ‘director general of police’ in indian occupied Punjab, a mass murderer, who was directly responsible for torturing and murdering Sikh freedom fighters, their families, and Sikh civilians as part of india’s state sanctioned counter insurgency terror.
As well as overseeing and incentivising his underlings with promotions and cash rewards Saini, like other senior indian police officials managed his own division of ‘black cats’ - state sanctioned murders and rapists like Ajit Phoola - who were utilised in ‘operations’ to kill the families of Sikh freedom fighters and civilians, ‘operations’ that would later be blamed on Sikh guerrilla organisations by a complicit indian media.
“We will never let the fish of the Husainpuri river go hungry”
- SSP Ajit Sandhu (Saini’s underling speaking about how they will keep killing Sikh freedom fighters and disposing their bodies in Punjab’s rivers, SikhSiyasat News)
Saini was recently ‘charged’ after decades in the 1991 torture and murder of Balwant Singh Multani, whose body has never been recovered. Balwant Singh, was a relative of Sikh political prisoner Prof. Dawinderpal Singh Bhullar, and like many Sikhs of Punjab was supportive of the Sikh liberation movement for Khalistan. This ‘case’ is being tired as an isolated incident by indian courts, it does not vindicate calls for ‘justice’ by those that claim to represent Sikhs, and it would be a injustice to claim that it does. The ‘charging’ of Saini is not a trial, nor has a trial even begun, yet the direction this charge is heading in, exposing Saini as a state sanctioned murder, has been enough for him to flee and go underground.
The escape of Sumedh Saini during this decades long process demonstrates that ranking police and state officials will continue to be shielded by indian state apparatus. Saini has enjoyed impunity his entire career, been celebrated with gallantry awards for his human rights violations and mass murders, and enjoyed promotion within the ranks of indian state security forces.
“Saini is a notorious trigger-happy cop from Punjab. The accolades showered on Saini by the government as well as the media, for ‘combatting terrorists’ in Punjab during the 1980s through 1999 are misplaced. Saini, in fact, supervised the ‘elimination’ of suspects, via officers under his command. In law, all such ‘encounters’ - as they are oft referred to in South Asia - are extrajudicial executions”
Asian Human Rights Commission statement May 19, 2014.
As part of Ensaaf’s project gathering data to shed light on impunity and state crimes against humanity in Punjab Saini has been named in 24 cases “directly implicating Sumedh Singh [Saini] in abduction/disappearance”. He is also involved in at least 157 other cases of state sanctioned murders according to Ensaaf’s data.
"The perpetrator profile of Sumedh S. Saini is the first of its kind to identify and visualize cases of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions reportedly committed under his command during his tenure as Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in various jurisdictions of Punjab. Notably, the data equally highlights Saini’s failure to protect the populace from gross human rights violations. He not only permitted his subordinates and other security forces to perpetrate violations against residents in his assigned jurisdictions, but he also allowed them to travel extra-territorially to target individuals.
S. S. Saini served at the rank of SSP, or district chief, in at least seven jurisdictions in as many years. The number of cases presented here is an undercounting of the likely cases perpetrated under his command.”
Ensaaf profile on Saini
The 31st August 1991 murders of the family of Sikh freedom fighter and martyr Shaheed Bhai Balwinder Singh Jatana Babbar is a particularly harrowing example of the impunity enjoyed by indian security officials like Saini and those that worked under them like Ajit Phoola. Saini suspected Shaheed Balwinder Singh Jatana Babbar for a bomb attack on his convoy which killed Saini’s driver, one of his security guards, and injured Saini. Saini immediately retaliated.
A 1994 human rights report states “police from Saini’s station came to the home village of the militant leader of the Babbar Khalsa group and took down the names of five of his relatives who lived in one house. Later that night gunmen surrounded the house and opened fire, killing three women and a five year old child, and then set fire to the house.”
Balwinder Singh’s aunt Jasmair Kaur (45), grandmother, Dewarki Kaur (87-88), and Jasmair Kaur's daughter, Manpreet Kaur (13), and son Simranjeet Singh (5) were killed under the direct orders of Saini.
Saini had tasked ‘black cat’ Gurmeet ‘Pinky’ to murder Bhai Jatana’s family, a task which ended up being carried out by Ajit Phoola. Words cannot express what a disgusting human Phoola was, he took pleasure in raping and burning his victims, and was proud of this reputation. With the grace of the Guru, Phoola’s protection from the state was no longer possible, and he ended up in prison where he met his fate at the hands of Bhai Navtej Singh and Bhai Harchand Singh that read about Phoola’s deeds, recognised him and burned him alive in his cell.
Despite being accused throughout his tenure as ‘SSP’ of gross human rights violations and extrajudicial murders Saini was only named in an ‘FIR’ in 2007 when the indian high court in Haryana ordered a ‘CBI probe’ finding “enough evidence” in the case of Balwant Singh Multani. This only came about due to the unrelenting efforts of human rights workers and family members.
In 2008 Saini had the FIR quashed, and around 2010 the indian supreme court invalidated the ‘CBI probe’ stating “The court cannot merely proceed on the basis of ‘ifs' and ‘buts' and think it appropriate that inquiry should be made by the CBI. It is not permissible for the court to set the criminal law in motion on the basis of allegations made against a person”.
In 2011 under mounting scrutiny the proceedings against Saini in the Balwant Singh Multani murder case were deemed lawful by the indian supreme court. In 2012 Saini was made the ‘director general of police’, the highest ranking indian police officer in a state or territory claimed by india. The indian government apparatus in Punjab defended Saini’s appointment citing his “outstanding” record and his “reputation of effectiveness and a no-nonsense approach” in their confidential records produced before the indian high court in Haryana.
In 2015 Saini was transferred from his post, not due to allegation of human rights abuses, but due to political wrangling over unrest in Punjab relating to ‘sacrilege’ cases where Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji was desecrated, an allegation many Sikh bodies lay at the door of the indian state as a ploy to divert Sikh attention and energy.
It is worth noting that in 2019 the ‘CBI’ officer Dharampal Singh who was investigating Saini in a separate 1997 ‘disappearance’ case of 2 businessmen and their driver actually turned hostile towards the investigation he was in charge of. Dharampal Singh even refused to identify his own signature in some places.
The matter of the Balwant Singh Multani murder case against Saini came to a head in the 2015 confession of state sanctioned murderer Gurmeet ‘Pinky’ where he revealed previously unknown details of the terror the indian state unleashed against Sikhs in Punjab. As Saini’s position deteriorated under the mounting evidence against him he unsuccessfully sought refuge in Himachal Pardes in May 2020.
The confessions of Saini’s co-accused police officers in August 2020 made his position entirely untenable. On 4th September 2020 Saini and his family vanished under the watch of his ‘Z+’ personal security detail. Saini has been one of the most protected ‘vvips’ in india. His security detail consisted of 50 personal from the CRPF, 32 paramilitary commandos, and a fleet of 5 vehicles, including a jammer vehicle and an armoured car, a legacy of the KLF and the threat posed to Saini by Sikh revolutionary fighters. Saini’s predecessor and mentor KPS Gill was previously the most protected ‘vvip’ for his entire career and life with a personal security detail of 100 paramilitary commandos. It is a testament to the audacity and effectiveness of Sikh fighters that these small police armies outnumbered the numerical strength of individual Sikh guerrilla organisations they were protecting against.
Saini is but one officer within the indian state apparatus that has been shielded, promoted, and protected - in fact every single ‘DGP’ of indian police in Punjab has been directly accused of human rights violations against Sikhs in order to suppress the Sikh struggle for Khalistan by subjecting Punjab to collective punishment that continues to this day. These indian security officials competed to be ‘top dog’ by killing Sikhs and claiming bounties. Ajit Sandhu, Azar Alam, Sumedh Saini, and Sarbjeet Virk, are all ‘SSPs’ that became ‘DGPs’, aside from Sandhu, who was twice ‘decorated’ with the indian presidents gallantry award, killed himself. Sandhu was also responsible for the torture and murder of Shaheed Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra.
“In this genocidal campaign to eliminate support for the secessionist movement, human rights organizations sketched the general profiles of targets identified by security forces for illegal detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings:
Politically active young Sikh men, whether involved in political parties, student organizations, or religious groups
Families of activists and guerrillas
Any Amritdhari (initiated) Sikhs or those who maintain the dastar (turban) and beard”
Criminalising Dissent Report
The indian state which claims to be a ‘secular democracy’ that values ‘law and order’ continues to brazenly demonstrate that there is a separate application of its laws when it comes to Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, and its officials. Those officials that stand accused evade due process for decades, and Sikh political prisoners spend decades in jail waiting for trials to begin, or spend decades in jail on circumstantial evidence and ‘confessions’ extracted under torture, as has been the case of Prof. Dawinderpal Singh Bhullar.
As we have seen in the matter of Jagtar Singh ‘Jaggi’ Johal, who has been awaiting trial for nearly three years, who stands accused of supporting the Khalistan struggle, documenting human rights violations, and translating the speeches of revered Sikh leader Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale. Jaggi has been refused bail, not had a single piece of evidence presented against him, nor have the full charges against him been clearly laid out.
The entire indian state apparatus, manifest through its judiciary, media, academia, bureaucracy, and security forces stands complicit in decades of oppression and inhuman brutality against Sikhs for resisting Brahmin hegemony. Normalised relations with the indian state cannot exist when india continues to hand picks killers of Sikhs for top postings. In the case of Saini he stands accused of just one isolated ‘case’ - Sikh resistance is still defined as terrorism - and he is still lionised in indian media as an essentially ‘good cop’ who was perhaps ‘harsh’ given the “circumstances”. The same State and media hails KPS Gill, who Sikhs named ‘the butcher of Punjab’, as a ‘Super Cop’. There can be no justice from the indian state, the proceedings of its courts make a mockery of its own self defined notions of justice. The only justice is Khalistan and the establishment of Sikh courts and Sikh proceedings against indian war criminals.
Sikhs all over the world should remain vigilant for Saini and do Ardaas to Sache Patshah that Saini meets justice according to the traditions and maryada of the Khalsa, and that the Guru bestows this Seva on their beloved Panth.
Sources:
Ensaaf Profile and Database: https://data.ensaaf.org/official/S0001/detail
‘Dead Silence Legacy of Human Rights Abuses in Punjab’, Physicians for Human Rights, May 1994
https://sikhsiyasat.net/tag/sumedh-saini/
