JUDGMENT

ORDER :- This is a very disturbing matter. It is an habeas corpus petition to secure the release of Sadhu Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Amanjit Singh, Hardev Singh, Davinder Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Sharanjit Singh. It is filed by Inder Singh, who is the son of Sadhu Singh, the brother of Gurdeep Singh, the father of Hardev Singh and the uncle of Amanjit Singh, Davinder Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Sharanjit Singh. Sadhu Singh is said to about 85 years old and Sukhdev Singh and Sharanjit Singh to be about 17 and 14 years old respectively.

2. It is the case of the petitioner that at or about 5.00 a.m. on 29th October 1991, a police party under the command of Baldev Singh, D.S.P. who is the third respondent to the petition came to his residence and directed that all those present be lined up in its courtyard. The third respondent then ordered that the 7 persons in respect of whom the petition is filed be taken into custody. The police party accompanying the third respondent, accordingly, took the said 7 persons into custody and placed them in a police van (No. PB-06-3100). The petitioner and his family were told that they would be given the dead bodies of the said 7 persons if the third respondents brother was not produced. The petition sets out the various police stations in which the said 7 persons were from time to time lodged until 28th December 1991. The petition states that efforts to obtain the release of the said 7 persons having failed on 27 th July, 1994.

3. The third respondent, who appeared before us through counsel on 30th August 1994 and today, has filed an affidavit in reply to the petition on 23rd August, 1994. Therein he denies the allegations made against him in the petition. He states therein that an FIR has been lodged in regard to the abduction of the said 7 persons on 23rd March, 1994 in P.S. Kathunangal, District Majitha, which is under investigation by Gurcharan Singh, Superintendent of Police In Charge, Crime Investigation Cell, Punjab, He states that on 21st October 1991 he was posted as D.S.P. Dera Baba Nanak Sub Division in District Batala, and the jurisdiction. He also states that he is co-operating in the investigation of the said FIR.

4. The FIR is annexed to the affidavit of the third respondent and it says that the fourth respondent, who is alleged to have been part of the police party, is the brother of the third respondent.

5. Mr. K.T.S. Tulsi, learned Additional Solicitor General, appearing on behalf of the State of Punjab and K.P.S. Gill, Director General of Police, Punjab, the first and second respondents to the petition, made a submission before us on 30th August 1994, which is recorded thus :

"We record the statement of Sri K.T.S. Tulsi, Adl. Solicitor General appearing for Respondent Nos. 1 & 2, that the investigations have revealed that respondent No. 3, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, was guilty of causing the abduction of the seven persons in 1991 in complicity with other policemen and that the investigations have not yet revealed whether the abducted persons are alive or have been killed by Respondent No. 3 and his police accomplices. It is also submitted that the Police are placing a charge-sheet against the third respondent and other police officers concerned. It is also stated that the third respondent is absconding."

Mr. Tulsi then submitted that this was a rare case in which the Punjab Police admitted that one of its officers had been guilty of abducting citizens and that the Punjab Police should, therefore be trusted to carry out the investigations into the matter thoroughly. He sought to file an affidavit in this behalf.

6. It is amply clear from the submissions of Mr. Tulsi referred to above and the affidavits to which we shall now advert that the said 7 persons were not wanted by the Punjab Police in connection with any criminal offense of inquiry.

7. An affidavit has now been filed on behalf of the State of Punjab, the first respondent of the petition. It states that the statement