Shaheed Bhai Makhan Singh Puadhra

Bhai Makhan Singh Puadhra is amongst those thousands Sikhs that have been tortured to death by the Indian government and then disappeared. Even till today no one knows what Bhai Sahib went through or how he was killed. On 21st March 1962 in the village of Puadhra near Phillaur, district Jalandhar in the house of Sardar Darshan Singh, Bhai Makhan Singh was born from the womb of Mata Surjit Kaur. Bhai Sahib was one of the four brothers and three sisters. Bhai Sahib studied up till 10th class at the local school of Puadhra and then passed his 12th class at a government school in Bandala. Bhai Sahib then went on to study BA at the DAV College in Nakodar in 1985, during the study here Bhai Sahib was a great player of volleyball. Playing in university tournaments, Bhai Sahib had made a name for himself in being a great player of volleyball. Bhai Sahib was a calm and lovable person, beside family responsibilities, studying and sports Bhai Sahib never thought of doing anything else.

Bhai Sahib was a close relative of Bhai Paramjit Singh Malhi, the President of All India Sikh Student Federation Jalandhar branch. It was due to this family link the police kept a suspicious eye on Bhai Sahib also. When Bhai Sahib was arrested, he was taken to Nakodar police station where he was locked up with two other young singhs from Malian Khurd and Mirpur. The singhs were blindly tortured. It is said that the other two singhs were killed in the Nakodar police station. Now it was the turn of Bhai Sahib. The SPD of Jalandhar, Swaran Ghotna terrorized Bhai Sahib and tried to make him admit murdering the Sarpanch of Jahangir village, Dan Singh and his son in law. But Bhai Sahib kept on saying that on the day of the murders he was at Jahan Khela Training Centre doing his duty. The police did not belive Bhai Sahib. SPD Ghotna grabbed the paper weight from the table and smashed on Bhai Sahib’s jaw, which broke his jaw. The SPD was not satisfied and then put red hot rods through Bhai Sahib’s feet. Bhai Sahib was suffering immense pain but he did not admit the false charges. Reading of all this torture on one innocent Sikh, will bring tears to the eyes of the reader but the cruel SPD was thinking about doing more evil. In the end the evil police force was defeated and Bhai Sahib was sent to Jalandhar jail charged with fake cases. When singhs saw Bhai Sahib in jail they were shocked to hear of the ill treatment of Bhai Sahib by the SPD.

The doctors told Bhai Sahib that his leg would have to be amputated for him to recover, but Bhai Sahib did not allow that and slowly healed the wounds in his feet without the amputation. Bhai Sahib hadn’t fully recovered yet when his father, Sardar Darshan Singh who was always depressed about the torture Bhai Sahib was suffering from passed away and 8 days after that Bhai Sahib’s brother also passed away. In August 1988, Bhai Sahib was bailed from jail but soon as he came out he was again arrested by the Punjab police and taken to the Noormehl police station. But the Panchayat of Puadhra managed to free Bhai Sahib. Upon being released Bhai Sahib started working in his farms and at the same time started studying for his MA at Khalsa College in Lyallpur.

The Indian government did not allow this Sikh to resume his life. The locals say that the police arrested Bhai Sahib from the historical Gurdwara Mao Sahib in the month of Harh and ever since no one got any news of Bhai Sahibs where abouts. It were the days of summer in 1989, when the evil SPD Swaran Ghotna started to capture Bhai Sahib. It is believed that before Bhai Sahib was killed, he must have been extremely tortured by the police. When Bhai Sahib attained shaheedi through torture the police still did not release any report declaring his death.

The Punjab Human Right Organisation and Sikh Lawyers Council prepared a report in which they suspected the Punjab police to have killed Bhai Sahib during torture and after to hide their tracks, the police threw the body of Bhai Sahib into the river. This matter is in open discussion amongst the media and Panthic groups, but till today the police have not disclosed any information of where Bhai Sahib is? Instead the police started harassing and terrorizing the family of Bhai Sahib and telling them to produce Bhai Sahib at the local police station.

Where the family were still suffering from the loss of Sardar Darshan Singha and Bhai Sahib’s brother they also had to suffer the brutality of the Punjab police. In the end all hopes of the family had faded away.  In June 2008, a Sri Akhand Paath Sahib was done in memory of Bhai Sahib. On 5th January 2013, Mata Surjit Kaur also passed away. Thousands of such stories like Bhai Makhan Singh Puadhra exist all over Punjab. Thousands of parents still await the sons. Thousand of sisters still await their brothers. It is a request to anyone who may know more about Shaheed Bhai Makhan Singh Puadhra to get in contact with us and share information.

Khalsa Fatehnama – December 2013