Jaswant Singh Khalra was abducted in 1995 after documenting cremations of unclaimed bodies. Life terms for five policemen were upheld in 2011.
After Operation Blue Star, families reported relatives missing after police detention. Khalra began searching for two colleagues picked up by police.
With Jaspal Singh Dhillon he issued a note based on firewood receipts, saying police cremated bodies as unclaimed, often with no post-mortem.
Policemen, the courts later found, took him in a van as he washed his car. Police told the Court he was neither arrested nor wanted.
Police said he was neither arrested nor wanted. Three courts found he was abducted, held illegally and killed.
Press note, abduction, CBI order, charge sheet, 2005 trial verdict, High Court and the 2011 Supreme Court judgment.
After his wife's petition and a telegram from the SGPC chief, the Court asked the CBI to probe the abduction and the cremation claims.
A telegram, a wife's petition, a police denial and, on 15 November 1995, an order handing the case to the CBI.
A 74-page report said 984 bodies were cremated as unclaimed in Tarn Taran district. Nine police officers were named for the abduction on 30 July.
Of 2,097 bodies, 585 were fully identified, 274 partly and 1,238 not at all. The Court called it a flagrant violation of human rights.
2,097 bodies in Amritsar and 984 in Tarn Taran are CBI findings. The 25,000 figure is Khalra's own estimate.
Kuldip Singh told the CBI Khalra was beaten and killed in custody and thrown into the Harike canal. The courts accepted it despite doubts.
Witnesses saw the abduction and the custody. The Supreme Court recorded threats and false cases against them.
One died in 1997, one during the trial, one was discharged and one acquitted. Five had life sentences upheld.
Jaspal Singh and Amarjit Singh got life for murder. Four others got seven years for kidnapping.
It acquitted Amarjit Singh and, on his wife's revision petition, raised four seven-year terms to life imprisonment.
The Court dismissed the appeals, held that a murder conviction needs no body, and said tolerating police atrocities erodes the rule of law.
Patiala 2005, High Court 2007 and Supreme Court 2011, with what each court decided.
The Indian Express reports he was released in 2021, told to surrender in 2022 and granted interim bail in May 2023. His sentence stands.
The biopic with Diljit Dosanjh streamed on 3 July 2026 after a long Censor Board dispute and was taken down within about 48 hours.
His wife has asked the Akal Takht Jathedar for a people's commission on disappearances. The wider cremation issue was never separately prosecuted.
Convictions final since 2011, a convict on interim bail, a film taken down and a larger question still open.
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