‘Tortured To Death’: Postmortem Of BSF Jawan, Who Died In NCB Custody, Reveals 34 Injuries

Postmortem of the BSF jawan shows 34 injuries, most sustained while in NCB custody in Amritsar, family and PHRO allege custodial torture and demand accountability.

The victim’s family claims he was assaulted. (Representative Image)

A month after a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan died under mysterious circumstances while in the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), his postmortem report has revealed 34 injuries on his body.

The jawan, identified as Jaswinder Singh (35), died in March after his condition worsened during questioning by the NCB in Punjab’s Amritsar. At the time, police had stated that his health deteriorated during interrogation, but his family alleged that he had been assaulted by officials and staged protests outside the postmortem facility, NDTV reported.

Death During NCB Interrogation

According to reports, Singh, a resident of Jammu, was taken into custody by a Narcotics team and brought to Amritsar for questioning, where he later died.

The autopsy, conducted at the district civil hospital in Amritsar, was shared by the family and Sarabjit Singh Verka, chief investigator of the Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO). Findings indicate that he sustained 25 injuries two to four days before his death, while nine were inflicted within 18 to 24 hours before his death. The report notes that this timeframe aligns with the period he was in NCB custody.

Family Alleges Custodial Torture

Reacting to the findings, Singh’s wife, Lovjeet Kaur, alleged custodial torture. “The postmortem report has proved that my husband was tortured to death. Thirty-four injuries are not a small matter. NCB personnel were cruel to him while he was in custody,” she said, the NDTV report mentioned.

Earlier, his mother, Gurmeet Kaur, had described the sequence of events leading up to his death. “My son’s name was Jaswinder Singh. He was a constable in the BSF. He had come home on leave. He was supposed to return on the 3rd or 4th, but on the 3rd, the Narcotics department from Jammu picked him up. On the night of the 20th, we received a phone call saying your son had died and that we should come and take his body,” she said.

Read More