On 26th January 2021 when India was celebrating it’s 72nd Republic Day, my friend was grieving the loss of his grandchild. Do not be mistaken for a moment here, this was not an ordinary loss of life. Instead, it was one which was carried out directly by the very hands of the republic that was celebrating its’ existence.

My friend, Sardar Hardip Singh Dibdiba is a Human Rights Activist, who has spent the last 4-5 decades to fight for just causes. We have worked together innumerable times. The boy (Navreet Singh, 26yrs Male) who lost his life was Hardip Singh’s grandson who had very recently got married and settled successfully in Australia.

He was where he lost his life that day to support and take part in a Tractor Rally organized by All India Farmer Unions as a part of the 63rd day of ongoing national level protests by farmers against the Indian Government at the very periphery of its’ National Capital, Delhi.

Navreet was shot in his head as reported by several individual media outlets  -the Caravan, Guardian ,the daily mail.co.uk , the Wire etc. The Guardian even quoted Dr. Basil Purdue, a pathologist registered with the UK Home Office who examined the video footage and post-mortem, saying “To me this is one gunshot wound, possibly two, unless proved otherwise.” He was further quoted saying “it was extremely implausible that Singh died from an overturned tractor. You cannot get these injuries from a jail.”

Apparently Navreet lost control of the tractor he was driving after receiving the bullet and it overturned. The action was most certainly directly or indirectly at the hands of the Police forces gathered there in masses. The police have been inflicting brutality on the peaceful protestors from the first day and still continue to do so. The police did not allow even first aid to reach navreet for 3 hours after the incident and have told lies and false information about how navreet died. 

The Indian Government has turned deaf to our protesting voices and the same attitude persists even at the loss of life. For at least 5 Decades now Sikh youth have been the target of Indian Governments. But like the 1984 tragedy, when hundreds of sikh families lost their loved ones, 26th January 2021 will never stop torturing Hardip Singh and his family who lost their future that day.  

We request your attention to be bought on this matter which shall force our Indian Government to conduct a fair and just trial for Navreet’s Death. The person/people responsible for this should be held accountable for this heinous act.

Please help us get Navreet’s soul the justice it deserves.

Baljinder Singh Morjand