Indian police jails Babaji, torturing innocent people
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We would like to bring your attention to a very sad situation that is in
progress right this very minute. Sant Baba Darshan Singh Ji (also known as
Babaji) of Dhakki Sahib who has his headquarters at Tapoban Dhakki Sahib near
Ludhiana was arrested based upon false charges on May 8th 1999. An excuse was
made that there was a land dispute over the property upon which Babaji and his
disciples live, however that is a complete misrepresentation since Babaji has
been at that site for 15 years, and there has never been any friction over that
issue.
The property belongs to no one, it is in fact a jungle that no one has ever
been able to reside upon in the past, nor cultivate for farming. Babaji did a
lot of intense meditation for a whole year at that location at age 25
(surviving despite almost no food or water throughout that period). At the end
of that year he started his charitable humanitarian projects, and six months
later went into another intense period of meditation lasting for an additional
6 months (again with almost no food or water).
In the state of Punjab Babaji is very highly regarded by the masses for his
spiritual discourses and practical humanitarian projects, such as blood camps,
free eye operations, food and clothing for the poor, a boarding school at
Dhakki Sahib, de-addiction centers which have helped over 15,000 men overcome
alcohol addiction, etc. This last March his organization set the world record
for the most amount of blood donated within a 24 hour period. The previous
world record was 4000 pints of blood during a full 24 hour period in the state
of Oregon in the US, his followers donated over 6000 pints within an 8 hour
period.
BADAL'S CAMP THREATENS BABAJI:
During the Vaisakhi celebrations, Babaji was scheduled to give spiritual
discourse from his own rented section at Anandpursahib and had also been
invited to provide kirtan and katha at Ranjit Singh's stage. According to a
number of sources, at this point, Badal and his men told Babaji to come to
their stage and gave a veiled threat that if he went on Ranjit Singh's stage,
that he would be asking for trouble (since Ranjit Singh is Badal's main
opposition). Babaji replied that he was not into politics and only supported
those who supported the Akal Thakat, and who were going in more of a dharmic
direction.
Thereafter, Babaji with 5 elephants leading a procession of approx. 20,000
people arrived at Anandpursahib. A member of the sangat was sitting on the
middle elephant with the Guru Granth Sahib on his head while Babaji was
directly behind him fanning it with respect, to clearly demonstrate that there
was no higher authority on the Sikh spiritual path than Gurbani. However he is
no one dimensional religious fanatic, since the emblem of his organization
includes the symbols of 4 major religions with the phrase "Ik Oangkaar" in the
middle to illustrate that all the world religions emerge from the one same God,
who is equally within everything. Babaji continuing an age old tradition
encourages everyone to pursue their chosen religious ideal with the highest
level of sincerity, devotion and effort.
During the weeks prior to Vaisakhi, in order to keep up with an extremely busy
schedule, whereby he was often visiting 4 to 5 different Gurdwaras a day and
giving a 2 hour sermon at each one, Babaji had rented a helicopter to make it
easier to get around. This gave him a great deal of exposure within Punjab and
the newspapers listed him as the 'Flying Baba.' Apparently, because Badal
himself did not have a helicopter, and since Babaji consistently refused to
align himself with Badal due to his anti-Akal Thakat policies, Badal and his
followers started scheming about how to dilute Babaji's high level of
popularity and influence in Punjab by ruining his reputation.
Babaji's devotees had built a special gate at the entrance to their jungle
ashram in celebration of the 300 year Vaisakhi anniversary. Vaisakhi ended on
April 14th, a few days later on April 18th, the main gate at the Dhakki Sahib
entrance was mysteriously burnt to cinders during the early hours of the
morning. Babaji instructed his disciples and the sangat not to react to this
criminal act and to simply remain in peace. Hence an eerie peace ensued over
the following weeks. That is until the morning of May 8th, when an armed crowd
of approx. 300 out of town strangers sent apparently by MLA Sadhu Singh (one of
Badal's inner circle) arrived unexpectedly at Dhakki Sahib at 7am, and
proceeded to grab and physically assault 3 of the young Sikhs who were bathing.
DHAKKI SAHIB RESIDENT DEVOTEES ATTACKED BY OUT OF TOWN THUGS WITH POLICE
SUPPORT:
The cries of these 3 youths woke up some of the resident devotees. Because the
crowd was armed with guns and sticks, 7 of the residents emerged from their
huts with their licensed rifles and shot them in the air to get the crowds
attention, so that they'd cease inflicting blows and kicks to the 3 boys.
At this point police officers emerged from behind the crowd and coming to the
front asked the 7 resident Sikhs to hand over their guns. The young men
complied thinking that the police would take control of the situation and bring
the violence to an end. It didn't occur to them that the fact that the police
was already there, meant that this whole incident was pre-planned with the full
complicity of the police. Usually it takes the police a full 20 to 30 minutes
before they can arrive on the scene of an incident, the fact that they were
already there was highly suspicious !!
What the police did next was very bizarre. They confiscated the guns from the 7
resident Sikhs and arrested them on the spot even though they had licensed
guns, and had only shot them in the air to get the crowds attention and bring
the violence inflicted upon their brother devotees to an end. The police then
took these men to Khanna Police Station approx. 20 miles away. During this time
Babaji was in Bhora Sahib, his residence built on the location where he had
meditated for over a year, and due to the depth of the building below the
ground insulating it from outside noise, was completely unaware of what was
occurring a few hundred yards away.
POLICE RETURN TO ABDUCT BABAJI:
At approx. 3pm the same day, the same policemen returned to Dhakki Sahib with a
back-up force of approx. 5000 police officers and demanded that they wanted to
talk to Babaji. By this time people in the surrounding villages had heard what
had happened and a very large sangat of approx. 6000 men and women was present.
The police insisted that they had to take Babaji simply for questioning to the
police station. Babaji by this time had come out from Bhora Sahib to face the
police, and asked them to explain what he or his followers had done wrong, and
why they wanted to take him to the station? The leader of the police SPD H.
Sikho replied "My hands are tied, I can't explain why, I've got a direct
command from above and I'm only following orders, but everything will be made
clear at the police station. You have to come to the station"
POLICE PHYSICALLY ASSAULTS THE SANGAT:
SPD H. Sikho and a few of the other officers kept insisting over and over again
that they were not arresting Babaji, that all they were ordered to do was to
simply ask him a few questions at the police station, nothing more. However,
the sangat insisted that whatever questions the police had should be answered
right there at Dhakki Sahib. At that point the police again led by SPD H. Sikho
started to inflict blows upon the members of the sangat who were protesting the
police's suspicious attempts to abduct Babaji without any reasonable purpose.
After all, as many stated, if they only wanted to ask questions, why couldn't
they just ask them right there and then and take a signed statement if
necessary?
As a result Babaji seeing that the situation was causing injury to innocent men
and women, faced the sangat and told them that it was his wish to go to the
police station, and that they should peacefully allow the police to do their
job. Babaji then said to SPD H. Sikho "Do whatever you want" and walked towards
his own car. As a result the sangat allowed Babaji to sit in his car and he was
thus escorted by 25 police jeeps, and arrived at Khanna police station approx.
4pm.
Approx. 4000 members of the sangat followed Babaji to the Khanna Police
Station, and upon arrival were asked by the police to disperse and go home.
However not trusting the police, they refused. Consequently, the police sneaked
Babaji out and took him in their jeep to the Gaddi Wala Restaurant without the
sangat's knowledge. They returned later that same evening and confined him
overnight in a VIP room.
That evening the Sarpanch of Dhakki Sahib - Balbir Singh went with two brother
devotees to Khanna Police Station to find out what was taking so long, since
the police said questioning would only take an hour or so and they'd be right
back, and yet Babaji had still not returned. Upon arrival, the police
immediately arrested him and the two Singhs who came with him and placed all
three of them in jail, where they remain to this day.
PEACEFUL PROTEST SUFFERS A VICIOUS ATTACK BY POLICE:
The following morning on May 9th the police escorted Babaji to court and
presented some false charges, whereby the judge ordered that Babaji be confined
until May 22nd. Since Babaji had not returned on the night of the 8th, nor was
released on the 9th, word quickly spread around the neighboring towns.
Consequently, at approx. 10am on the morning of the 10th, about 7000 members of
the sangat marched along the Ludhian-Delhi Road near Dhoraha, sat down on the
road and caused a traffic jam in protest of Babaji's arrest and detainment
based upon false charges.
When SPD H. Sikho arrived upon the scene, he was visibly drunk. Without
assessing the situation and with the combined assistance of his officers,
immediately started to hit the crowd with metal rods, striking men and women
with equal fury. SPD H. Sikho then ordered the use of tear gas to be thrown
into the crowd, while his officers continued to beat the sangat members who had
come to merely stage a peaceful protest. At the same time the officers standing
at the side of the road shot their rifles in the air to scare everyone into
dispersing. During this time some elderly members of the sangat were sitting on
the floor doing kirtan, but the police were merciless and clubbed them with
equal force on their heads and the sides of their arms.
Even though they were being attacked, these elderly Sikhs singing shabads still
did not move and continued with their kirtan. As a result the police having
lifted and arrested them, took them to Payal Police Station where they
continued to beat them. In the midst of this violent attack upon people who
were protesting an unjust act peacefully, many of the women tried to run away
out of harms way, but the police officers chased and hit them with equally
brutal force. As a result many suffered broken arms or legs or serious injuries
to their head. By the time this barbaric and cruel attack was over, a minimum
of 24 people were very seriously injured. In the meantime, the police went on
to arrest a total of 45 Singhs.
ONGOING ARRESTS:
The police had recorded a video tape of the above incident, and using it for
identification purposes are continuing to go on a daily basis from village to
village, to make further arrests of anyone who was present at the protest march
that day.
POLICE TORTURE:
Based upon information leaked out from the area, at this time Gurdip Singh who
is one of Babaji's disciples has been very badly beaten and tortured.
Apparently two officers after thoroughly beating him, held each of his legs and
pulled them apart so severely that he can no longer walk. Additionally, Giana
Gurbachan Singh who is an elderly gentleman in his late 60s, has also been very
badly beaten and tortured to the point that the police won't allow anyone to
see him. Apparently they now have him in hospital and are trying to get him
into a condition whereby he is once again presentable to the public.
Babaji in the meantime has refused to eat anything since he was detained on the
8th, and has only sipped water at intervals, which is probably prudent and
appropriate due to the possibility of food poisoning by the police force. He is
currently being held in a VIP room, and after a few days the police allowed one
devotee to stay with him to serve his needs. The police using violence and
extreme torture are day by day building a case based upon false charges,
whereby some of the victims will say or do anything to escape further pain or
harm to their families. The police are on a daily basis going so far as to
verbally threaten or physically assault young girls or women to obtain false
statements aimed towards discrediting Babaji's reputation. The police's false
case against Babaji built upon extorted false statements is being orchestrated
and conducted by the leadership of Badal's camp.
Interestingly enough, perhaps by coincidence or by design, Badal has a pivotal
function on May 22nd, and has Babaji conveniently locked up until then. As a
result Babaji's influence upon the sangat may or may not interfere with his
plans. Equally disturbing is the latest news that as of May 20th, Badal's group
of supporters along with the complicit of the police have placed Ranjit Singh
under house arrest without any justification or pressing any formal charges.
This type of act is clearly illegal, but it seems at this time Punjab is being
governed by Badal's strong arm tactics, violating all laws of government or any
concept of fairness and justice.
At this point, in the face of such severe corruption apparently stemming from
Badal and his supporters at the governmental level, flowing down to the police
and judicial level, the only real solution to this type of injustice is to
expose the truth of what's really going on. We would strongly encourage
everyone to share this e-mail with as many other Sikhs worldwide as possible.
Even more helpful would be for everyone to try and get this information in the
hands of as many media or human rights organizations as possible. If you have
any questions of suggestions, please feel free to forward them to us at: