Women
and girls in Punjab have been tortured.
The problem became so acute that in 1989 the Governor of Punjab instructed
the police not to bring any women to a police station for questioning.
(India Torture,
Rape & Deaths in Custody, Al Report: March 1992)
Supreme
Court ordered Indian army to take special
measures in the northeast to protect women
from torture or harassment during military
operations.
(Amnesty
International Annual Report 1992)
Rape
and ill treatment of women by
the police is
wide spread through
out the country. Rape of women is used by the police and security
forces to deter opposition and also as a means of indirectly punishing
men from a particular area.
(India
Torture, Rape & Deaths in Custody, Al Report: March 1992)
Even
children as young
as six have been arrested and tortured. In one case 11 children,
including two 10 year old girls
and a boy aged 6 years
had been illegally detained and tortured through out the night. A
girl of 13 years was stripped naked
and beaten and a boy 12 years old was given electric
shocks...... The children were released the
following day when a crowd of 4000 gathered outside the police station.
(India
Torture, Rape & Deaths in Custody, Al Report: March 1992)
SPECIFIC
CASES
Police
suspected of killing Amandeep Kaur a newly married 20 year old sikh girl
on January 24, 1992.
(International
Human Rights Publication)
On
the night of February 23/24, 1991 Indian soldiers
reportedly raped 23 women
when searching a village .... some are said to have been gang
raped, others to have been raped in front
of their children.
(India
Torture, Rape & Deaths in Custody, Al Report: March 1992)
Rape
is a common form of torture. It is so
routine that in 1988 a newspaper headline read "Another mass rape by Bihar
Cops". Delhi police reported 14 cases of rape
involving 20 police officers at 12 police
stations between January 1 and February 11, 1990.
(India
Torture, Rape & Deaths in Custody:, Al Report March 1992)
Punjab
Chief Minister's grandson and four bodyguards
provided by the Indian Government have been accused of the attempted
gang raping of a French
women visiting India.
(World
Sikh News: October 1994)