Sukhdev Singh Sukha
{{Short description|Sikh militant and convicted assassin (1962–1992)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Sukhdev Singh Sukha
| native_name =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date text|14 August 1962}}
| death_date = {{death-date and age|9 October 1992|14 August 1962}}
| birth_place = Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India
| death_place = Pune, Maharashtra, India
| death_cause = Execution by hanging
| occupation =
| employer =
| criminal_penalty = Death
| spouse =
| awards =
| parents =
| conviction = Assassination of Arun Shridhar Vaidya
| conviction_status = Executed
| image = Photograph of Sukhdev Singh Sukha, former member of the Khalistan Commando Force.jpg}}
Sukhdev Singh Sukha (14 August 1962 – 9 October 1992) was a Sikh militant and one of the two assassins of Arun Vaidya. He was responsible for three high-profile assassinations; Arjan Dass, Lalit Maken and Gen. Vaidya. He along with other members of Khalistan Commando Force participated in Indian history's biggest bank robbery of ₹ 57 million (About 1.023 billion rupees in 2023. About $12.5 million USD in 2023) from Punjab National Bank, Miller Gunj branch, Ludhiana{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20081010/punjab1.htm#11 |title=SGPC honours kin of Vaidya's assassins |publisher=Tribuneindia.com |date=9 October 2008}} to finance the militancy for a separate Sikh state of Khalistan.{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/58240583.html?dids=58240583%3A58240583&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS%3AFT&date=Feb+13%2C+1987&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Sikh+Separatists+Masquerade+as+Police+to+Stage+India%27s+Biggest+Bank+Robbery&pqatl=google|title=Sikh Separatists Masquerade as Police to Stage India's Biggest Bank Robbery|work=Los Angeles Times|date=13 February 1987|access-date=9 October 2019|archive-date=17 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617201712/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/58240583.html?dids=58240583%3A58240583&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS%3AFT&date=Feb+13%2C+1987&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Sikh+Separatists+Masquerade+as+Police+to+Stage+India%27s+Biggest+Bank+Robbery&pqatl=google|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3810376.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021140733/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3810376.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 October 2012 |title=Sikhs rob India bank of $4.5 million |publisher=Chicago Sun-Times|date=13 February 1987|via=Highbeam.com |access-date=2013-11-07}}
Early life
Sukha was born in 1962 on 14 Sawan, Wednesday, at Chak N: 11 FF, District Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, to Saini Sikh family of Mengha Singh Banwait and Surjeet Kaur.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080103/punjab1.htm#16|title = The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Punjab}} This family originally belonged to village Bhungarni in Hoshiarpur district. Thereafter, they relocated to district Lyallpur in undivided Punjab. Between the years 1930 and 1933, this family once again relocated to Chak N: 11 F in district Sri Ganga Nagar of Rajasthan after Partition of India.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}
He did his early schooling from his native village and village 13 FF Manaksar.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} In 1983 he received his BA from Gian Joti College in Karanpur and was studying in MA English when Operation Bluestar occurred. He left his studies and joined the Khalistan separatist movement.
Assassinations
{{Main|Assassination of Arjun Dass}}
Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha along with Ranjit Singh Gill gunned down Congress(I) Member of Parliament Lalit Maken on 31 July 1985, when he was moving towards his car parked across the road from his house in Kirti Nagar, New Delhi. The three assailants continued firing even as Maken ran towards his house for cover. Maken's wife Geetanjali and a visitor, Balkishan, were also caught in the firing. The assailants escaped on their Yamaha Motorcycles. Lalit Maken was considered to be involved in the killings of Sikhs during 1984 Anti-Sikh riots. In a 31-page booklet titled 'Who Are The Guilty', People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) listed 227 people who led the mobs, which killed up to 3,000 Sikhs over three days. Lalit Maken's name was third on the list.{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20110429183514/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fline/fl2007/stories/20030411002004500.htm A life sentence]}} Ranjit Singh "Gill" was arrested by Interpol in New Jersey, USA on 14 May 1987, he was deported back to India in May 1997 after lengthy legal cases and was sentenced to life imprisonment on 24 February 2003.
General Arun Vaidya was the Chief of the Indian Army who ordered the attack on armed militants holed up in the holiest of the Sikh shrines at Amritsar and elsewhere in Punjab during Operation Blue Star. He had moved to Pune after his retirement from the army. On 10 August 1986 Vaidya, the architect of Operation Blue Star was shot to death by Jinda and Sukha while he was driving his car home from the market.Associated Press. "Shrine Leader Killed in Ambush", The Dallas Morning News, 11 August 1986. According to the police, the assailants pulled up next to his car on motor scooters and fired eight or nine shots into the car.Weisman, Steven R. "A Top Indian General is Assassinated", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11 August 1986. Vaidya reportedly died instantly of head and neck wounds. His wife, who was also in the car, was wounded by four bullets in her back and thighs.Sun-Times Wires. "Sikhs kill ex-army chief, massacre revenge hinted", Chicago Sun-Times, 11 August 1986. According to Indian intelligence sources, Vaidya had been the number four assassination target on lists by Sikh militants and he was one of several people killed in retaliation for Operation Blue Star.Associated Press. "General cremated; Sikhs admit to killing", c/o Houston Chronicle, 11 August 1986."The Vaidya Murder Case: Confirming Death Sentences", India Abroad. (New York edition). New York, N.Y.: 24 July 1992. Vol.XXII, Issue. 43; pg.20. Following the assassination, the Khalistan Commando Force issued a statement declaring that Vaidya had been killed in retaliation for the Golden Temple operation.
Congress (I) leader Arjan Dass was also assassinated by the duo because of his involvement in 1984 Anti-Sikh riots. Arjan Dass's name appeared in various affidavits submitted by innocent Sikh victims to Nanavati Commission which was headed by Justice G.T. Nanavati, retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India.{{cite web |url=http://www.mha.nic.in/Nanavati-I.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-03-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411105427/http://www.mha.nic.in/Nanavati-I.pdf |archive-date=11 April 2008 |df=dmy-all }}
Arrest and death
On 17 September 1986, Sukha got into an accident with a truck in Pimpri, Pune and was arrested. He was riding the same black motorcycle which was used at the time of assassination of General Vaidya.Jinda got arrested at Gurdwara Majnoo Daa Tilla, Delhi in March 1987. He was shot in the legs at the time of his arrest. During their court trial, despite admitting to the killing, they pleaded not-guilty, justifying their actions by saying that Vaidya was "guilty of a serious crime, the punishment for which could only be death". They were awarded death sentences at 2:05 pm on 21 October 1989.
On 9 October 1992, early in the morning, Sukhdev Singh "Sukha" and Harjinder Singh "Jinda" were executed by hanging in Pune Jail. The Independent World mentioned "While being led from their cell to the gallows set up in the Yerawada gaol yard, the two convicted killers shouted slogans for Sikh independence in the Punjab".{{Cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/protests-after-hanging-of-sikhs-1556488.html |title = Protests after hanging of Sikhs |website = Independent.co.uk |date = 22 October 2011}}
Both of them were hanged at 4 am in Yerwada Central Jail Pune while extraordinary security was deployed at the jail and in the periphery of Pune to oppose any possible Sikh militant attack. Security was also tightened all over Northern India.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EbcTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GZADAAAAIBAJ&pg=2918,3892758&dq=harjinder+singh+jinda New Straits Times Malaysia - Oct 10, 1992] Their dead bodies were cremated on the same day at 6:20 am near Mula river.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
=Public protests=
=Memorial service and subsequent seizure of the Golden Temple by the government=
On their memorial service, hundreds of troops and police surrounded the Golden Temple. In the early morning hundreds of Sikhs were ordered to move out of the Golden Temple. Sikh leaders Simranjit Singh Mann, Prakash Singh Badal, Gurcharan Singh Tohra and 300 others were arrested in the statewide arrests. Some people were baton charged when they tried to enter this religious place. Approximately 300 Sikhs openly resisted the police clampdown and held the 30-minute memorial service inside the complex while chanting slogans hailing the assassins and in support of Sikh homeland Khalistan. Jinda and Sukha's fathers were presented with saropa Sahib by Golden Temple priest. Police siege of the temple was lifted 3 hours after the memorial service.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/sikhs-defy-police-to-mourn-killers-1558282.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/sikhs-defy-police-to-mourn-killers-1558282.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title = Sikhs defy police to mourn killers|website = Independent.co.uk|date = 22 October 2011}}{{cite web | url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=KC&p_theme=kc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF3E4969EB10B0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM | title=Google }}
Honours/ anniversaries
In October 1999, his death anniversary was celebrated in village Gadli, district Amritsar, where chief of Akal Takhat Amritsar, Giani Puran Singh declared Jinda and Sukha as national martyrs while justifying their action of killing general Vaidya. Some Akali leaders stayed away from this function.{{cite web |url=http://www.indiarightsonline.com/Sabrang/relipolcom9.nsf/5e7647d942f529c9e5256c3100376e2e/f3235c44e2a4bbd165256cce0027a361/$FILE/bac31539.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-11-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222205220/http://www.indiarightsonline.com/Sabrang/relipolcom9.nsf/5e7647d942f529c9e5256c3100376e2e/f3235c44e2a4bbd165256cce0027a361/$FILE/bac31539.pdf |archive-date=22 February 2012 |df=dmy-all }}
On 9 October 2000, representatives of all major Sikh bodies, including ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, the SHSAD, the SGPC, the Damdami Taksal, AISSF and the Dal Khalsa attended the eighth death anniversary of Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha. To honour Jinda and Sukha, Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, Head of Akal Takht (Supreme Sikh temporal seat), performed the 'ardas' (a Sikh religious rite). Both Sukha and Jinda were declared as "great martyrs' of the Sikh nation during this event.[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20001010/punjab.htm#13 The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Punjab]
On 9 October 2002, Jinda's death anniversary, "Tributes were paid to the assassins of General Vaidya – Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha" and Jinda's mother was honoured by Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, chief of Akal Takhat.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20021010/punjab1.htm#13|title = The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Punjab}}
In October 2005, his death anniversary was celebrated in his native village of Gadli by various Sikh organization including Dal Khalsa, Damdami Taksal, Akal Federation and Sikh Students Federation etc.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051010/punjab1.htm#16|title = The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Punjab}}
On 9 October 2008, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee honoured kin of Jinda and Sukha in the Golden Temple complex, to mark their death anniversary. SGPC declared Jinda and Sukha 'martyrs of Sikh Nation' and added that Jinda and Sukha took "revenge of" Operation Blue Star.
On 22 October 2008, the South Asian Post reported that the Dashmesh Durbar Sikh temple in Surrey, Canada had organized special prayers for both Jinda and Sukha in Canada.{{cite web |url=http://www.southasianpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c441d26ef48011d2ab67c09003d_Exiled_rebels.do.html |title=Exiled rebels |access-date=2009-07-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109055207/http://www.southasianpost.com/portal2/c1ee8c441d26ef48011d2ab67c09003d_Exiled_rebels.do.html |archive-date=9 January 2009 |df=dmy-all }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.sikhsiyasat.com/dload/Letter_of_Shaheed_Jinda_Sukha.pdf Letter sent by the two to the President of India asking for no clemency] {{Dead link|date= May 2017}}
- [http://www.saintsoldiers.net/ss/?p=suk Harjinder Singh Jinda & Sukhdev Singh Sukha Biography at a Sikh website describing him a martyr.] {{Dead link|date= May 2017}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sukha, Sukhdev Singh}}
Category:1985 murders in India
Category:Khalistan movement people
Category:20th-century executions by India
Category:People convicted of murder by India
Category:People executed by India by hanging
Category:Executed Indian people
Category:Military personnel from Ludhiana