Are Sikhs safe in India?

[ronki23]

I have read on many websites that there are many human rights abuses in India when it comes to the Sikhs, especially in Delhi and Punjab.

Bapu Surat Singh has been on hunger strike for 2 years:

On 16 January 2015, Surat Singh Khalsa began a hunger strike which is still ongoing.[2] He has refused food and water to seek the release of Sikh political prisoners who have completed their court sentences. Where he is seeking release of Sikh political prisoners, he has also called for unconditional release of prisoners of all religions who have completed their terms.[3]

On 11 February 2015, Surat Singh Khalsa wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi[4] explaining the motive of his hunger strike. In his letter, Surat Singh Khalsa summed up his demands in two points

1. Treat all Sikh prisoners –under trials and those sentenced in cases relating to the Sikh struggle- as political prisoners and
2. Release all prisoners who have completed their full jail terms and are legitimately due for release, exactly in the same manner, as other prisoners are so released in various other parts of the country.

Surat Singh Khalsa - Wikipedia

In Punjab there was an insurgency and abuse of human rights:

The book is organized into 7 chapters, each containing further subsections and finishing in 634 pages with the authors giving their conclusion and suggestions. The book starts by giving a chronology of events and a detailed information into Jaswant Singh Khalra case. The following chapters look into details of missing Sikhs and discrepancies of law and its deliberate misuse. It also presents the organizational structure of Punjab police. The book contains over 500 testimonies by the families of the victims, and describes 672 cases of alleged illegal executions by the police in the Amritsar district

Jaswant Singh Khalra was a bank director in the city of Amritsar in Punjab during the militancy. Following Operation Blue Star, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, police were empowered to detain suspects for any reason, ostensibly as suspected terrorists. Police were accused of killing unarmed suspects in staged shootouts and burning thousands [2] of dead bodies to cover up the murders.[3]

While searching for some colleagues who went missing, Jaswant Singh Khalra discovered files from the municipal corporation of the city of Amritsar which contained the names, age, address of those who had been killed and later burned by the Police.[4] Further research revealed other cases in 3 other districts in Punjab, increasing the list by thousands.[5]...

On 6 September 1995, while washing his car in front of his house, Khalra was abducted by under-cover commandos of Punjab Police at behest of Senior Superintendent of Police Ajit Singh Sandhu and taken to Jhabal police station.[7] Although witnesses gave statements implicating the police[7] and have named former police chief Kanwar Pal Singh Gill as a conspirator,[8] police denied having ever arrested or detained him, and claimed to have no knowledge of his whereabouts.

In 1996, the Central Bureau of Investigation found evidence that he was held at a police station in Tarn Taran and recommended the prosecution of nine Punjab police officials for murder and kidnapping.[7] Those accused of his murder were not charged for ten years,[9] though one of the suspects committed suicide in 1997.[7] On 18 November 2005, six Punjab police officials were convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment for Khalra’s abduction and murder.[10] On 16 October 2007 a division bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court, chaired by Justices Mehtab Singh Gill and A N Jindal, extended the sentence to Life imprisonment for four accused Satnam Singh, Surinder Pal Singh, Jasbir Singh (all former Sub Inspectors) and Prithipal Singh (former Head Constable).[11][12]

Recent human rights issues in India with Sikhs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaswant_Singh_Khalra#cite_note-12
Why Jagmeet Singh interrupted the BBC's Sunday Morning show

Why British Sikhs are calling for a 'black Diwali' - BBC News

Atrocities on Sikh Women in Punjab

1964 Paonta Sahib Massacre

1978 Vaisakhi Massacre

 

[ronki23]

@Satnaam @GURSIKH @Treks @ajay0 @Kirran @Vinayaka @Aupmanyav @Spirit_Warrior @sayak83

 

[Aupmanyav]

Well, the Supreme Court has ordered a re-opening of the 1984 riot cases. The Court is led by Justice Jagdeesh Singh Khehar, who happens to be a Sikh.

 

[ronki23]

I'm tagging you in this as you answered questions on Israel-Palestine so must know more about this? @Kirran

 

[Kirran]

I'm tagging you in this as you answered questions on Israel-Palestine so must know more about this? @Kirran

Can't testify much on this one, although my general impression is that there are some issues but they're not drastic. I could be wrong.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the current (Congress) and the former (Akali Dal) Chief Ministers of Punjab. They seem to be getting along nicely (now that the elections are over and Punjab people have chosen their leader for the next five years). During election times there are a lot of allegations and counter-allegations, then things settle down.