Shaheed Bhai Balwinder Singh Shahpur alias Subeg Singh

Bhai Balwinder Singh was born in 1971, in the house of Sardar Jagir Singh and from the womb of Mata Surjit Kaur in the village of Shahpur, district Amritsar. Bhai Sahib had 6 brothers and 3 sisters, (eldest to youngest) Bhai Tarsem Singh, Bhai Karnail Singh, Bhai Nirmal Singh, Shaheed Bhai Balwinder Singh, Bibi Kulwant Kaur, Bibi Jaswant Kaur, Bibi Rajwant Kaur and Shaheed Bhai Dalbir Singh Sabi. Sardar Jagir Singh did farming, but still made ends meet to feed his family. Bhai Sahib studied up to 5th class at the local school of Shahpur, and then studied up to 7th class at the government school of Batala.

Sahib spoke to everyone kindly and was very well educated in religious studies. In 1986, Bhai Sahib had taken Amrit from the Panj Pyare. While studying Bhai Sahib also took part in sports. Bhai Sahib also helped his father in the farms. As Bhai Sahib got older, Sardar Jagir Singh got him an apprenticeship with a tailor in Batala. When Bhai Sahib went to work for the tailor in Baba Bakala, he came in contact with Jhujaru Singhs. Bhai Sahib always wanted to Sewa with the Jhujaru Singhs, and from here onwards Bhai Sahib started taking part in Jhujaru activities in secret. In 1988, a police tout from Bhai Sahib’s village informed the Punjab police Bhai Sahib’s involvement with Jhujaru Singhs. The Punjab police raided Bhai Sahib’s house, fortunately he was not home and escaped being arrested. That same night, Bhai Sahib killed the police tout and left home forever to join his Jhujaru brothers to break the chains of slavery.

After leaving home to join the Khalistan freedom movement, Bhai Sahib started taking responsibility for his Jhujaru actions also. Bhai Sahib did actions under many freedom fighting groups, such as Bhai Jugraj Singh Toofan, Bhai Wassan Singh Zaffarwal and Bhai Seetal Singh Mattewal. Bhai Sahib was involved in many Jhujaru actions. Bhai Sahib was loved by the locals of the area he was active in, for his honesty, bravery and for being fair. The people of Punjab would always do Ardas for Bhai Sahib to remain in high spirits.

On 30th September 1992, Bhai Sahib was in Amritsar near Gurdwara Baba Shaheeda Sahib. Bhai Sahib was unarmed, alone and had no money. Due to police informer Bhai Sahib was arrested by the Punjab police. After being arrested, the police informer identified Bhai Sahib and the police then staged a false encounter and made Bhai Sahib a martyr of Khalistan. After his martyrdom, the body of Bhai Sahib was not given to the family.

After some time, on 11th January 1993 Bhai Sahib’s youngest brother, Bhai Dalbir Singh Sabi was arrested from his home. The Punjab police killed Bhai Dalbir Singh Sabi in a false encounter in Bolewal village, district Gurdaspur on 12th January 1993. The Punjab police had labelled Bhai Sahib’s youngest brother as Jhujaru Singh prior, knowing very well he wasn’t. Bhai Dalbir Singh Sabi had surrendered himself to the Punjab police 15 days after the martyrdom of Bhai Sahib.

Information given by the family of Shaheed Bhai Balwinder Singh Shahpur