30 years on, Sikh rights activist's daughter still seeks truth behind disappearance

On the morning of September 6, 1995, human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra was washing his car outside his home in Amritsar, Punjab, India. His wife, Paramjit Kaur Khalra, a librarian, was getting ready for work; his son Janmeet and daughter Navkiran were preparing for school. No one imagined that just hours later, their lives would change forever.

Minutes after his wife and children left, Khalra was arrested by police, secretly tortured for days, and then killed. His body was never found.

Khalra was killed because of his investigation into thousands of disappearances and extrajudicial killings by Indian security forces during the Sikh separatist movement in Punjab in the 1980s, which sought to create a separate state called Khalistan.

In June 1984, the Indian government sent troops into the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest site of Sikhism, believed to be sheltering hundreds of militants. Hundreds of people, including Sikh religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, were killed in Operation Blue Star.

That military operation led to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in October of that year by her two Sikh bodyguards. The assassination triggered a wave of anti-Sikh riots across the country, killing thousands.

In Punjab, the crackdown on the Khalistan movement began with security forces given special powers to torture, disappear, and even kill thousands of militants and suspects.

Among those forcibly disappeared was a friend of Khalra and that friend's mother. That incident prompted the 42-year-old bank manager to investigate thousands of similar cases.

In 1995, Khalra filed a petition with India's Supreme Court, accusing the police of cremating 25,000 such bodies as “unidentified” and “unclaimed.” Police dismissed his claims as exaggerated.

As Khalra mobilized the families of the missing and continued to seek answers from police, he was repeatedly threatened and ultimately abducted from his home and killed.

The abduction and killing of Khalra became one of India's most significant human rights cases. His wife's campaign for justice forced the government to order an investigation. Five police officers are currently serving life sentences for the murder.

Yet, for three decades, thousands of people in Punjab and beyond have been seeking justice for their missing loved ones.

Last month, a feature film titled Satluj — named after a river in Punjab where it is believed many bodies, including Khalra's, were thrown — was released, aiming to answer some of their questions by revisiting his life and work.

The Indian government blocked the film within 48 hours of its release on an online platform, citing “security concerns.” But Sikh groups and human rights activists have organized community screenings in Punjab and elsewhere, reigniting a decades-long debate over Khalra's legacy, state responsibility, and freedom of expression.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Navkiran Kaur Khalra, daughter of Jaswant Singh Khalra, spoke about family life before the tragedy, the years searching for her father, and the long journey for justice.

Navkiran recalled: “It was an ordinary morning. My mother was getting ready for work, my brother was going to school. When she stepped out around 9 a.m., she saw some police officers standing outside the house but thought nothing of it. When I came home from school, my brother ran out in a panic and said: 'The police have taken Dad.' That was the beginning of the nightmare that changed our lives forever.”

The family immediately went to the police station in Tarn Taran, but officers denied everything. Later, her mother received a call from a deputy inspector general of police, who said that if she withdrew her complaint, they would reveal her husband's whereabouts, or even bring him back with a story that he had gone to Pakistan and returned. “For years, we searched everywhere because we truly believed he might still be alive,” Navkiran said.

It was not until 1998, when Kuldip Singh, a former special police officer from Punjab, became the key witness and testified about the detention, torture, and killing of Khalra, that the family accepted the truth. “When Kuldip Singh described the illegal detention, torture, and killing of my father, we finally had to accept the truth. My grandfather gathered the family, and we held the final prayer ceremony for my father.”

Even though the police officers were convicted, Navkiran believes justice was never truly served. “The trial ended, but justice never happened. As Sikhs, we grew up believing there is no fair law for our community,” she said.

The film Satluj was directed by Honey Trehan. Initially, the family declined numerous offers to make a film, but after Trehan spent years researching and brought a script that reflected the truth and spirit of Khalra's work, they agreed to participate.

The public response after the film was blocked surprised the family. “Farmers' organizations and local communities organized public screenings across Punjab. People set up projectors in villages, on buses, and in community spaces so everyone could watch. The state miscalculated. They underestimated how many people still want to hear my father's story. Thirty years later, people are still seeking truth, justice, and accountability,” Navkiran said.