Amritsar, May 1
Kidnapping for ransom had become frequent in the late 80s. Some victims narrated their nightmarish experiences while they were in the clutches of their captors, who did not spare anyone. The conclusion drawn from their experiences was that the main aim of the ultras was to extort money and settle scores and not the creation of a separate Sikh state.

Their horrifying personal accounts threw light on the psyche and behaviour of the kidnappers. The period of captivity ranged from four hours to 87 days. The victims (more than 73 per cent of whom were Sikhs) were beaten up and chained while a woman was gangraped by militants in the presence of her husband for a number of days. The relatives of police officials who were kidnapped to demand the release of captured ultras got VIP treatment as the militants feared retaliation when the police started picking up members of their families.

The research of Dr Jagroop Singh Sekhon, Reader, Department of Political Science, Guru Nanak Dev University, based on interviews of a number of victims, gives startling facts about the traumatic detention of victims and the objectives of the leaders of different terrorist outfits involved in kidnappings. Dr Sekhon says, “Kidnapping as a weapon was used extensively by various terrorist groups during the days of terrorism in Punjab. A large number of persons were kidnapped and a majority of them were released on the payment of ransom to the terrorists.” It was the result of the withdrawal of state forces after sunset that kidnapping for ransom, extortion, murder and bargaining became common.

Giving a classification of the victims, Dr Sekhon said 72.73 per cent of the victims were Sikhs and the remaining 27.27 were Hindus. In terms of caste, around 50 per cent were Jats and 18.18 per cent each were Aroras and Khatris while 4.45 per cent each were Brahmins, Goldsmiths and Chhimbas.

A 60-year-old victim was a teacher of Gurbachan Singh Manochahal of the Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan. He was released after the payment of ransom. The interviews of 22 victims revealed that the ransom ranged between Rs 45,000 and Rs 50 lakh.

Another victim, Anokh Singh, was beaten up, given electric shocks and confined to a room for three days and nights without water and food. Dr Sekhon writes that the legs of the victim were broken and he still faced difficulty in standing. The marks of electric shocks were still visible on his body.

In another case, a couple was chained in a house and beaten up for four or five days. The woman was gangraped in front of her husband. The couple once pleaded to the captors to kill them. The victims were told that if their captors’ demand was not met, other members of their family would meet the same treatment.

An Arora Sikh from Amritsar was assaulted and locked in a room for two or three days without food or water. In almost all cases, the victims were blindfolded.

The longest period of captivity in the study is 87 days. The victim, Kuldeep Singh, a cloth merchant belonging to Khilchian (on G.T. Road), was kidnapped from his shop on September 26, 1990, in broad daylight by members of the Khalistan Liberation Force. He was released on December 23. The reason behind his kidnapping was that he was a relative of a senior IAS officer of Punjab. The terrorists wanted to put pressure on the state government for the release of their senior leaders.