Information on this subject could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB. The information below refers to a specific incident involving Sikhs in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

According to Human Rights Watch World Report 1992, the violence in Punjab spread to neighbouring states, especially UP, where "state authorities, like their counterparts in Punjab, gave police officials blanket authority to act outside the law against suspected militants" (HRW 1991, 414).

According to various sources, on 12 July 1991, Pilibhit police intercepted a bus carrying Sikh pilgrims at Kachla ghat (Etah) and abducted 11 of them, ten of whom were then killed in fake encounters (India Today 31 July 1995, 45; HRW 1991, 414; AI 19 July 1991; Country Reports 1991 1992, 1390) and cremated by police (India Today 31 July 1995, 45). According to information provided in an 18 July 1991 Times of India report used by Amnesty International (AI), two of the Sikhs allegedly had ties to an armed Sikh opposition group (19 July 1991). Country Reports 1991 also states that Pilibhit police claimed these Sikhs were militants (1992, 1390). According to Asia Watch, which interviewed eyewitnesses to the abduction, the detained Sikhs were not armed (HRW 1991, 414). Human Rights Watch states that "a number of eyewitnesses who filed affidavits in the courts were later threatened by the police" (ibid.).

According to AI, the UP government ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident (2 Aug. 1991; ibid. 1992, 140). Furthermore, a judicial panel headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Misra ordered the UP state government to pay compensation to the families of the victims (Country Reports 1991 1992, 1390; AI 1992, 140). India Today of 31 July 1995 provides some of the conclusions of the investigation carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) (45). Further information on the Pilibhit incident can be found in the HRW 1991 publication entitled Encounter in Pilibhit: Summary Executions of Sikhs in Uttar Pradesh, India, which is available at Regional Documentation Centres.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Amnesty International (AI). 2 August 1991. Urgent Action: Extrajudicial Executions: India. (AI Index: ASA 20/35/91). London: Amnesty International.

_____. 19 July 1991. Urgent Action: Extrajudicial Executions: India. (AI Index: ASA 20/33/91). London: Amnesty International.

_____. 1992. Amnesty International Report 1992. New York: Amnesty International USA.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1991. 1992. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Human Rights Watch (HRW). 1991. Human Rights Watch World Report 1992. New York: HRW.

India Today [Delhi]. 31 July 1995. Vol. 20, No. 14. D. Gidwani. "Nemesis Comes Calling: CBI Indicts Pilibhit Police for Killing Sikhs in Fake Encounters."

Attachments

Amnesty International (AI). 2 August 1991. Urgent Action: Extrajudicial Executions: India. (AI Index: ASA 20/35/91). London: Amnesty International.

_____. 19 July 1991. Urgent Action: Extrajudicial Executions: India. (AI Index: ASA 20/33/91). London: Amnesty International.

India Today [Delhi]. 31 July 1995. Vol. 20, No. 14. D. Gidwani. "Nemesis Comes Calling: CBI Indicts Pilibhit Police for Killing Sikhs in Fake Encounters," p. 45.

Additional Sources Consulted

Amnesty International (AI). August 1995. India: Deaths in Custody in 1994. (AI Index: ASA 20/18/95)

_____. June 1994. India: Deaths in Custody in 1993. (AI Index: ASA 20/02/94)

Amnesty International Report. Yearly. 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995.

Critique: Review of the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. 1991, 1992, 1993. 1994, 1995.

Documentation, Information and Research Branch (DIRB), Immigration and Refugee Board, Ottawa. March 1995. India: Chronology of Events, February 1991-November 1994.

_____. December 1992. India: Sikhs Outside Punjab.

DIRB "Amnesty International: India" country file. January 1990 to present.

DIRB Indexed Media Review [Ottawa]. Weekly. December 1991 to June 1992, July 1994 to present.

DIRB "India" country file. June 1990 to present.

Foreign Report [Surrey]. Weekly. June 1995 to present.

Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties. Yearly. 1993, 1995.

Human Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook. Yearly. 1992, 1994, 1995.

Human Rights Watch World Report. Yearly. 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996.

India Abroad [Toronto]. Weekly. July 1995 to present.

India Today [Delhi]. Fortnightly. March 1993 to present.

INS Resource Center, Washington, DC. April 1992. Information Packet Series: India: The Status of Sikhs.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. Monthly. January 1990 to October 1995.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Human Rights Newsletter [Delhi]. Monthly. May to July 1995.

ODR-Bulletin d'information [Berne]. November 1990. "Inde."

Office of Asylum Affairs (OAA), Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, United States. February 1995. India: Comments on Country Conditions and Asylum Claims.

Qadri, Syed M. Afzal. 1989. Police and Law: A Socio-Legal Analysis.

Refugees, Immigration and Asylum Section (RIAS), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia. June 1994. Country Profile: India.

Stokke, Hugo. 1991. "India," Human Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook 1991.

On-line search of media sources.