Shaheed Bhai Amarjit Singh Salabatpur

Babbar Khalsa

Bhai Amarjit Singh Babbar was born on 10th July 1961, in the house of Sardar Tarlochan Singh and from the womb of Mata Hardev Kaur in the village of Salabatpur, district Ropar. Bhai Sahib continued his education till higher secondary. Bhai Sahib had a very humble personality and always spoke to everyone with respect, this was the reason Bhai Sahib was very much loved by the locals as well as the family. The whole family were very spiritual and always did simran. Bhai Sahib also passed a course to become a Giani and had completed his Gurbani Santhaya. After leaving school, Bhai Sahib opened an electrics shop in Sri Chamkaur Sahib.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Indian government were committing uncountable injustices upon the Sikhs. It was during this time that one Gursikh took on the task of waking up the Sikh youth of Punjab, take them away from drugs and slavery and bring them closer to Guru Maharaj and freedom. This Gursikh was Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale, who along with his group of brave and spiritual Jhujaru Singhs went village to village preaching Sikhi and creating awareness on the injustices upon Sikhs. Soon Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Khalsa Bhindranwale started the Dharam Yudh Morcha to attain the very basic rights of Sikhs and Punjabis. It was during this time Bhai Sahib and his family heard speeches of Sant Ji and wanted to be a part of the revolution.

Bhai Sahib had made contacts with Jhujaru Singhs and would provide places of rest and langar for the Jhujaru Singhs. Bhai Sahib had earned the respect of Jhujaru Singhs through showing his love for Sikhi and Sikhs. Whenever the Jhujaru Singhs passed by the Ropar area they would always stay at Bhai Sahib’s house and have langar. In the month of June 1984, the Indian army attacked the throne of the Sikhs, Sri Akaal Takht Sahib under the orders of Indira Ghandi. The Indian tanks and cannons destroyed Sri Akaal Takht Sahib and thousands of Sikh pilgrims were murdered by the Indian army. This hideous act of the Indian government had left the whole Sikh nation in dismay and wanting revenge. Bhai Sahib was deeply saddened and wanted to do much as he could to punish the culprits.

Bhai Sahib started finding Jhujaru Singhs and soon he met some Singhs of Babbar Khalsa, Bhai Harmeet Singh Bhaowal and Bhai Kulwinder Singh Babbar. Bhai Sahib would take part in actions secretly while still living at home. The Punjab police were killing Sikh youth of Punjab and were also targeting the Sikh families who provided accommodation to the Jhujaru Singhs. Soon Bhai Sahib came under the radar of Punjab police and was arrested for the first time on 8th June 1987, for providing a place for and food to eat to Jhujaru Singhs of Babbar Khalsa. Bhai Sahib was kept in custody for almost a month and was blindly tortured. After this the Punjab police were regularly arrested and tortured.

Bhai Sahib was known as a Jhujaru Singh of Babbar Khalsa and had done many actions with Jhujaru Singhs such as Bhai Harmeet Singh Bhaowal, Bhai Kulwinder Singh Babbar, Bhai Davinder Singh Kheri Sultanpur, Bhai Balwinder Singh Jattana, Bhai Charanjit Singh Channi, Bhai Baldev Singh Bhaku Majra, Bhai Tejpal Singh Bhaku Majra, Bhai Jagtar Singh Panjola, Bhai Amarjit Singh Jalandhari, Bhai Pavittar Singh Tuto Majra, Bhai Davinder Singh Jago and Bhai Gurmeet Singh Ropar. All Jhujaru Singhs from all Jathebandis highly respected Bhai Sahib for his love for Sikhi and brave actions. Bhai Sahib never spared the enemies of the Sikh panth.

On 16th October 1991, Bhai Sahib left home and had told his family that he was going to meet some Singhs in Ambala but he was arrested from Patiala bus station at 11:15am, after an informant had given his location to the Indian security forces. This news was given to Bhai Sahib’s family by a local who had witnessed the arrest. The police had not shown the arrest of Bhai Sahib on official papers, which left the family of Bhai Sahib with no clue of his whereabouts. For almost a month the family got no information of Bhai Sahib’s whereabouts, they had tried to get information from all local police stations but they were always turned away by police officials. Then on 6th December 1991, a Hindi newspaper Punjab Kesri reported that on 31st October 1991, a Jhujaru Singh by the name of Bhai Amarjit Singh Babbar of village Salabatpur has been killed in a fierce encounter with Indian security forces in the village of Sialu, near the Ghanaur police station. The family rushed to the village of Sialu and spoke to the Sarpanch there and he told the family that at 8pm on 31st October 1991, the Patiala police apparently had an encounter here.

The Sarpanch of Sialu village was the only witness to the unlawful killing of Bhai Sahib but he did not want to write a statement against the Patiala police in fear of his life. The family did their full enquiry into who was actually involved in the unlawful killing of Bhai Sahib, the found out that the following police officers were involved:

Sant Kumar (Police Inspector)

Surjit Grewal (DSP Patiala)

Jaswinder Kooner (SPD Patiala)

Kumar Sharma (SSP Patiala)

D R Bhatti (DIG Patiala)

Information given by the family of Shaheed Bhai Amarjit Singh Salabatpur