The disappearance of Jaswant Singh Khalra: A human rights activist who exposed Punjab’s unclaimed cremations

Chandigarh: During the 1990s, when militancy was at its peak in Punjab, DGP KPS Gill led a crackdown on terrorism. However, human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra alleged that the police carried out fake encounters, killing or disappearing thousands of Sikhs.

Khalra, who is the subject of the upcoming film Punjab-95 starring Diljit Dosanjh, conducted an investigation into unclaimed cremations. He visited multiple crematoriums and gathered records, claiming that between 1984 and 1994, 25,000 Sikh youths went missing.

Of these, 2,000 were cremated as unclaimed bodies, while others were allegedly dumped in rivers and canals.

The 1995 press note that exposed mass disappearances

Khalra and his associate J.S. Dhillon, both part of the Shiromani Akali Dal’s human rights wing, released a press note on January 16, 1995, titled “Disappeared Cremation Grounds.” It detailed how police in Amritsar and nearby districts frequently cremated bodies as unclaimed. Their findings included:

400 unclaimed bodies cremated at Patti Municipality crematorium

700 bodies at Tarn Taran Municipality crematorium

2,000 unclaimed bodies cremated in Amritsar between 1984 and 1994, with 900 at the Durgiana Temple crematorium

The only records of these cremations were receipt books noting the amount of wood used, the date, and the number of bodies.

Khalra’s disappearance and the CBI probe

In 1995, Khalra himself disappeared outside his house. The case reached the Supreme Court, leading to a CBI investigation. The agency found evidence of fake encounters and registered 70 cases, including Khalra’s.

By December 2024, courts had convicted police officers in 58 of these cases, with 12 still pending.