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Kulbir Singh
returns to his own Bara-pind
Zafar Zang Singh
NABHA/AMRITSAR:
After 13 years in prison in the United States and 2 years in Punjab
contesting 3 cases of murder and attempted murder in various courts
and going through an arduous extradition from the United States in
July 2006, 40 year old Kulbir Singh Barapind returned home from
Nabha prison on 29 April to a rousing and warm welcome from Sikh
activists led by Bhai Daljit Singh, Bhai Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib,
Harpal Singh Cheema, Surinderpal Singh and Paramjit Singh Gazi.
Additional
Sessions Judge B K Mehta ordered his acquittal, as the prosecution
failed to provide sufficient evidences of his involvement in the
murder of four persons including a woman. In the other two murder
cases including of murder of one Sahib Singh of Dhakka Colony,
Phillaur and another of the murder of former Akali MLA Balwant Singh
Sarhal and his three aides, he was already released by the
respective courts.
After spending
the night with his family at his native village near Phillaur,
Kulbir Singh paid a visit to Darbar Sahib the following day and was
honoured at the Akal Takht Sahib with a Saropa.
His release
comes as a severe indictment of the Indian government which sought
his extradition on various grounds of terrorism and also as a matter
of discomfort and embarrassment for the US Immigration department
which ignored all pleas and petitions against his expulsion to
India.
 Barapind had
fled to the
United States
in 1994, fearing torture and harassment at the hands of the Indian
security forces, but support from leaders like Simranjit Singh Mann
as member parliament, from Retd. Justice Ajit Singh Bains as
chairperson of the Punjab Human Rights Organisation, in the form of
personal depositions in his favor and outcry by various US civil
liberties groups, including the Center for Human Rights and Global
Justice, failed to deter the US authorities from sending him back to
India.
During the
course of his appearances in court in the US, Barapind had described
in extensive detail how he and his family members were harassed and
tortured.
During the
extradition proceedings, the Indian government had asked for him on
11 charges of robbery, murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to
murder, but Judge Oliver Wanger of the federal district court in
California dropped eight of the cases brought against Barapind in
the extradition petition, five of them because they fell under the
"political offense" exception in the extradition treaty between
India and the United States. Finally, he was to stand trial only for
three cases, involving six murders and one attempted murder.
While Barapind
has been released, the other accused who have been extradited
including Prof Devinderpal Singh Bhullar, who was extradited from
Germany
faces death penalty.
 Reiterating the
aspirations of the Sikh people, Kulbir Singh Barapind, told
reporters in
Amritsar,
after paying obeisance at Harmandar Sahib that he was determined to
work democratically and politically to achieve the goal of Sikh
sovereignty.
He said that the
proposed independent state was for everyone including Hindus,
Christians and Muslims, who would live without any fear besides
enjoying their basic fundamental rights.
7
May,
2008
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