Just over a month after a BSF personnel died in custody, his wife has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking an immediate independent probe into the circumstances surrounding his death. She has alleged custodial torture, false implication under the provisions of the NDPS Act, and a “deliberate targeting” by officials.
In a petition filed against the Union of India, the State of Punjab, the Director-General of Police and other respondents, the victim’s wife Lovejeet Kaur asserted that her husband Jaswinder Singh’s death was not natural but the result of “severe beating and torture” at the hands of officials.
The plea sought directions for an independent inquiry into the custodial death, contending that the official version of cardiac arrest was untenable in the backdrop of the circumstances leading up to his death. The petitioner stated that the victim was serving as a BSF soldier, was young and healthy, and had no criminal antecedents. It alleged that he was intentionally targeted and falsely implicated by officials of NCB because he had supported his brother in a legal battle against alleged false implication by the same agency.
Detailing the sequence of events, the petitioner submitted a ‘naka’ was set and Jaswinder Singh intercepted while he was returning home with his elderly mother after visiting his brother in custody in Jammu. His mother was allegedly forced out of the vehicle and left stranded on the road.
The plea further stated that the victim managed to make a brief distress call of about four minutes from a landline, during which he allegedly disclosed that he had been subjected to “severe torture and beatings” and falsely implicated in the same cases as his brother. He also requested that a lawyer be urgently engaged in Jammu and specifically asked for an application to be moved for his medical examination due to the alleged physical abuse.
Subsequently, the petitioner claimed a call was received stating that Jaswinder Singh’s blood pressure had dropped drastically and that he had been taken to a hospital. He was later declared dead in Amritsar, with the cause of death reported as cardiac arrest.
Maintaining that the custodial death raised serious questions of abuse of power and violation of fundamental rights, the petitioner pressed for an independent and impartial inquiry to ascertain the truth and fix accountability. Taking up the matter, Justice Surya Partap Singh fixed May 18 for further hearing.
