India’s Federal Agency Court’s Judgements: 1992-1995 Extrajudicial Killings in Panjab

During the militancy period in Panjab from 1978 to 1995, thousands of individuals were subject to enforced disappearances. While human rights activists, most notably Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra, estimated the number of victims at approximately 25,000, only a small fraction of these cases have progressed to formal legal proceedings. The data presented here is supported by meticulous investigations from organizations such as Ensaaf and the Punjab Documentation and Advocacy Project, which have documented thousands of individual cases. The fact sheet record has been made possible through the dedicated legal work and record-keeping of Advocates Rajvinder Singh Bains and Jaspal Singh Manjhpur. Their contributions, along with links to case decisions in various media, ensure that these historical injustices remain a matter of public and legal record, and an updated status on cases currently under consideration or in the prosecution evidence stage is maintained.

The fact sheet provides a verified reference to cases in which the judiciary has formally recognized the state's role in extrajudicial actions. It details cases that have reached trial—often after a delay of nearly three decades; its core consists of two detailed tables:

• Table 1: Decided Cases: Lists 35 incidents involving CBI court judgments between 2011 and 2025; on average, it took 3 decades to reach the verdict. It includes details on victims and accused (names of the deceased and the police officers involved, ranging from Head Constables to Deputy Superintendents of Police) and judicial outcomes (convictions, acquittals, and sentences, often life imprisonment). Notable cases include the high-profile Sardar Jaswant Singh Khalra case, in which five officers were convicted to life imprisonment.
• Table 2: Pending/Incomplete Cases: Tracks cases currently under consideration or those still in the "prosecution evidence" stage.

Ensaaf has released data on 5,316 cases, and the Punjab Documentation and Advocacy Project has investigated 8,257 cases. A very small fraction of these cases have reached trials, resulting in convictions of police officers. Below is a list of incidents between 1992 and 1995, most of which reached trial on an average after 3 decades. All but one of them through the Central Bureau of Investigation. The judgments in these cases establish the police's culpability for grave human rights violations in Panjab.