Shaheed Bhai Satbachan Singh Sakruli

Bhindranwale Tigers Force of Khalistan

20th century true Sikh general, Sant Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale started a struggle for the equal rights of the Sikh citizens of India. In this struggle many Sikhs took par with all they had. Bhai Satbachan Singh Sakruli is amongst such Sikhs whose name is spoken with respect amongst the Sikh nation.

In the Hoshiarpur district’s village of Sakruli, near Garhshankar is home to one family in particular, who has taken part in many Sikh struggles. Bhai Satbachan Singh’s grandfather, Sardar Dalip Singh was the older brother of Sardar Tara Singh, who was thought to be shaheed in the Jeto Ka Morcha, killed by the British. But when Sardar Tara Singh sent a message home to the family, asking to bring fresh pair of cloths to the jail he was in, the family was relieved with stress. Bhai Sahib’s Taya Ji, Sardar Jagat Singh was also part of the Sikh struggle in 1940’s.

Baba Dalip Singh’s son, Sardar Darshan Singh had 4 children, Bibi Shaminder Kaur, Bhai Manohar Singh, Bhai Satbachan Singh and Bhai Satnam Singh.

Bhai Sahib was on 27th December 1957, in the house of Sardar Darshan Singh and from the womb of Mata Resham Kaur. Bhai Sahib studied at the local government school of Sakruli up until 10th class. In 1976, after passing 10th class, Bhai Sahib studied further in Mehalpur’s high school. Bhai Sahib studied even more after at ITI College in Hoshiarpur. At the college Bhai Sahib met the singhs of Sikh Student Federation and also joined the group. Bhai Sahib became a close friend of Bhai Charanjit Singh from the village of Herian. Also at this college Bhai Sahib met Bhai Manbir Singh Chaheru and as being a part of Sikh Student Federation, Bhai Sahib was regularly meeting Sa Jarnail Singh Ji Bhindranwale. After passing his diploma at ITI College, Bhai Sahib was still in contact with the workers of Sikh Student Federation.

When the government of India attacked Sri Harimandir Sahib and killed countless innocent Sikhs, many Sikh youths such as Bhai Sahib decided to contribute towards the Sikh freedom movement. Bhai Sahib started doing panthic actions secretly while still staying at home. Bhai Sahib rented a canteen business at Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College in Mehalpur and used this business as cover up for Khadku Singhs to come and relax.

Once a house of Hindu was looted, the police arrested and brutally tortured Bhai Sahib and 25 other Sikh youth from the Sakruli area. Later the Sikhs came to know that the son of the DSP was the one who had looted the house. Now this had made the fire inside Bhai Sahib even bigger.

From the area of Bhai Sahib, a Commrade leader was doing speeches amongst the public against the Khadku Singhs and the Sikh Freedom Movement. Bhai Sahib went to the house of this Commrade leader warning him to stop spitting venom against the Sikhs and the movement, but the Commrade leader. Soon after the Commrade leader was found dead, the police blamed Bhai Sahib and to arrest him the police raided the family house but Bhai Sahib had now gone underground. The police blindly tortured members of Bhai Sahib’s family but Bhai Sahib remained on his path to freedom.

Then at one of the Sikh Student Federation rallies, the CID tailed Bhai Sahib and as Bhai Sahib got off the bus, he was arrested by the CID. Bhai Sahib was taken to the Sadar police station in the Hoshiarpur district and Bhai Sahib was tortured day and night. After some days, the police charged Bhai Sahib with many cases and locked him up in Jalandhar security jail. The tall walls of the jail could not contain your thoughts. While in jail Bhai Sahib deeply thought into how to take the movement forward and after being bailed started planning the next step. But 18 days after Bhai Sahib was bailed the police again raided his family house and arrested him. The police charged Bhai Sahib with NSA and locked him up in Nabha security jail.

The family tried very hard to get Bhai Sahib free, but only after 16 months Bhai Sahib’s NSA was over ruled and then Bhai Sahib was bailed. After being bailed the family bought Bhai Sahib home and Bhai Sahib once again started doing actions secretly.

Now many families wanted Bhai Sahib to marry their daughter, but Bhai Sahib straight away said no, to getting married. Once a family from Canada wanted Bhai Sahib to marry their daughter, but Bhai Sahib once again said no. Then Bhai Sahib’s aunt bought Bhai Sahib a family that wanted their daughter married and asked Bhai Sahib to accept this marriage. Bhai Sahib said to his aunt, “Aunt, you’re the enemy of this girl.” Aunt was shocked and asked, “How am I an enemy?” Bhai Sahib said, “You know that poor girl will become a widow, but you still want her to marry me.” The family did not like this attitude of Bhai Sahib and tried to pressurize him into marrying. But Bhai Sahib clearly said, “I don’t want to get married. My martyred brothers are waiting for me.”

Now a Congress member of Hoshiarpur, Sant Ram was also found dead and after this Bhai Sahib went underground once again. As Bhai Sahib left home, he told his brother, Bhai Manohar Singh, “Brother, you will not get any complaints of me.” The police now repeated the torture on Bhai Sahib’s family. To mentally break the Khadku Singhs, the police would torture and in some cases kill relatives. Once a police officer had tortured Bhai Sahib’s brother in-law and damaged the ligaments in his legs. Bhai Sahib was furious on this cowardly action of the police and rang that particular police officer and said, “Your brother in-law that lives at a certain address, I’m going to kill him.” The police officer fearfully asked, “What have you got against my brother in-law?” Bhai Sahib replied, “The same grudge you had against my brother in-law.” The police officer understood the sign and from there on he had stopped harassing and torturing the relatives of Bhai Sahib. The CID tried many tactics to get information of Bhai Sahib from the family but Bhai Sahib had never met the family after going underground and neither tried to meet any family members.

While underground Bhai Sahib punished many corrupt police officers. One of the singhs from the group of Bhai Sahib, Bhai Satnam Singh Atalgarh, was in jail and was to attend a court hearing. Bhai Sahib broke free Bhai Satnam Singh Atalgarh from the Ambala courts by attacking the guards that were around Bhai Satnam Singh Atalgarh. In this action a police officer and a constable were killed.  Now Bhai Sahib had joined the Bhindranwale Tigers Force, under the command of Bhai Sukhwinder Singh Sangha.

On 25th April 1989, Bhai Sahib and Bhai Satnam Singh Bhilowal were staying at house in the village of Sona Kalan, district Hoshiarpur. The police were given this information by a traitor and under the command of the local DSP the police forces had surrounded Sona Kalan. At this time Bhai Sahib only had a revolver that he had snatched from a SI officer. Bhai Sahib had only the bullets that were loaded in the revolver and after starting the encounter with just a revolver Bhai Sahib had quickly killed 2 police officers. When Bhai Sahib was left with the last bullet in his revolver, Bhai Sahib requested Bhai Satnam Singh Bhilowal to recite Jap Ji Sahib, which Bhai Satnam Singh Bhilowal fulfilled and recited the full Jap Ji Sahib. The Bhai Satnam Singh Bhilowal finished the prayer, Bhai Sahib gave his revolver to Bhai Satnam Singh Bhilowal and said, “You shoot me, you have no case pending on yourself, so you’ll get easy sentence. Make sure you continue the sewa for panth.” But Bhai Satnam Singh Bhilowal was not willing to do that, instead Bhai Sahib grabbed the revolver off Bhai Satnam Singh Bhilowal and shot himself and attained shaheedi. Bhai Satnam Singh Bhilowal gave himself up to the police as what Bhai Sahib had commanded him.

The police was scared to go near Bhai Sahib’s shaheedi saroop, even when Bhai Satnam Singh Bhilowal had told the police that Bhai Sahib had attained shaheedi. The police used Bhai Satnam Singh Bhilowal as a shield and progressed forward towards Bhai Sahib. When the police did reach Bhai Sahib’s shaheedi saroop they saw that the true Sikh warrior has done his bit for the Sikh nation and attained shaheedi.

Purja Purja Kat Maray – Baljit Singh Khalsa