Amritsar, January 10: Golden Temple head priest Giani Jagtar Singh Tuesday released a book on former Punjab police chief KPS Gill at Akal Takht in Amritsar on Tuesday. Titled ‘The Butcher of Punjab – KPS Gill’, the book is authored by Sarabjit Singh Ghuman, 48, the editor of Punjabi separatist magazine ‘Fathenama’. Ghuman, who was booked in the Shingar bomb blast case of Ludhiana in 2007 and was later acquitted of all charges by a court, said, “I was tortured for 31 days by Ludhiana police. Who could write better on a police officer than me.”
Gill died in 2017 at the age of 82. He remained Director General of Police from 1988 to 1995 and is largely credited with wiping out militancy from Punjab.
Paramjit Kaur Khalra, wife of Human Rights Activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was allegedly killed in a fake encounter during Gill’s tenure, was presented the first copy of the book.
“Khalra was a government employee and had raised the issue of unidentified bodies that were cremated by police in Punjab. He apprehended that he might be killed. If a learned person like Khalra couldn’t escape getting killed, you can imagine what would have happened to others,” said Ghuman.
“General Reginald Dyer, who ordered firing at unarmed people in Jalianwala Bagh, is known as Butcher of Amritsar. In the same way, Gill is ‘butcher of Punjab’ for killing thousands of Sikh youth in fake encounters,” said Ghuman.
Former DGP’s son HPS Gill said, “I have not seen the book. The title, however, suggests defamatory content.”
A K Pandey, IGP (Law and Order), who worked with Gill from 1991 till latter’s retirement, was more forthcoming. “The author is a coward. He should have written the book when Gill was alive. Now that Gill is dead, such people have come out of rat holes to write such stuff about him,” Pandey said.
Source Indian Express
