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The Indian Government executed Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda and Bhai Sukhdev Singh Sukha on October 9, 1992 in Pune. They were responsible for punishing General Vaidiya the architect of the 1984 attack on Sri Darbar Sahib. They had tracked him down and shot him dead and in the process, restored the honor and dignity of the Sikh people.


Bhai Harjinder Singh Jinda writing letter

Letter by Bhai Jinda on October 27, 1989:

The day of October 21, 1989 was a day of great happiness for Khalistan. On that day, at 11 o’clock, we were taken from the jail to the courthouse. When we arrived at the courts, we were still in the car when the police came and told us that we would have to take our shoes off before entering the courthouse. We refused to take off our shoes. The judge was thinking that we might beat him to death with them. We sent the judge a message that we would never do such a lowly thing and that if he had any doubts, he could have us handcuffed, but we would never remove our shoes. The judge agreed to what we said and did not even have us handcuffed.

We were presented in the courthouse. The judge came and met us especially with folded hands. Right upon sitting down, the judge announced his not-guilty verdict for brother Nirmal Singh. Then the judge said to us that we were guilty in the General Vaidiya case. The judge asked our lawyers about a reduced sentence but we had already forbidden them that they should not say anything about it. Then the lawyers came to us and asked if they could ask the judge to reduce our sentences. We said that they should not and that we ourselves would talk to him about it.

The judge then called veer Sukhdev Singh to the stand. The judge said to veer Sukhdev Singh, “You have been convicted in this case. Say something about your punishment.” Sukhdev Singh replied, “The day that the wicked government attacked Darbar Sahib, on that day I had decided that my life was the Panth’s and it didn’t matter if it went today or tomorrow. At that time I had thought that until I have taken revenge for the disrespect to Darbar Sahib, and do not achieve Khalistan, I will not sit in peace. When this life is the Panths, then what care do I have about the punishment? You may announce any punishment you like.” Then veer started shouting jaikaras and slogans for Khalistan.

Then the judge called me. Sukhdev Singh had returned to his spot and sat down. The judge then said to me, “you have been convicted in the General Vaidiya case. Say something about your punishment.” I said to the judge, “that day when I began to walk on this path, that day I wrote my life off to the Panth. While I live I will continue to punish the enemies of humanity like General Vaidiya and will fight until Khalistan is achieved. When this life and existence is the Panth’s, then what do I fear of any punishment? You can announce any punishment.”

The judge then asked us, “Are you prepared to sacrifice for Khalistan?” We replied, “yes, we are ready to sacrifice for Khalistan.” By that time, journalists had also arrived. The judge then did not announce his sentence. The time for the sentence was set for one hour later at 1pm. When the judge was leaving, I said to him, “My mother and my other relatives are sitting at Shivaji Nagar Courts. Please call them.” The judge then ordered the DSP that my mother and family should be brought and they should not be given any trouble. The judge said, “Until his family arrive, I will not announce the verdict.” The judge then left. Mata Ji and the rest of the family couldn’t be found at the courts because they had gone to the Gurdwara. Because of this, they couldn’t come to the sentencing.

The judge returned at 2.05pm and began to read the sentencing. At 2.17pm, veer Sukhdev Singh was called to the stand and was awarded the death sentence. He accepted this award with jaikaray and slogans for Khalistan. Then Nirmal Singh was called to the stand and pronounced not guilty.

When the judge was reading his sentencing, his voice was shaking and his hands were trembling. He was having trouble speaking.

The judge then called me to the stand. He also gave me the award of death. Just like veer, I too shouted jaikaray in happiness and shouted slogans for Khalistan and Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. We also thanked him for sending us to the gallows.

We then said to the judge, “today is a very happy day for Khalistan. On this, our happiest occasion, we want to throw a party.” The judge replied, “I am very thankful to you. You have helped me very much.” We also thanked the judge. We told the judge that we wanted to meet the Press, but the judge requested that we not do so today but some other time. We agreed.


We were then taken back to jail. We came back and began to distribute barfee (Indian sweet). When the people in the jail found out we had been sentenced to death, they didn’t eat it. So we ate it ourselves.

The following are excerpts from letters sent by Bhai Sukha and Bhai Jinda in the final week before their Shaheedi on October 9, 1992.

October 2, 1992

That blessed hour which we were awaiting impatiently for such along time , will come at 4am on 9-10-1992. God has been very merciful to us. We consider ourselves very lucky. The preparations for your brothers weddings are complete but the world doesn’t know about it [Singhs see Shaheedi as a wedding to death]. Look at the fear of these rulers!

One day their senior doctor came and said he wanted to weigh us, etc. He measured our height, weight, and neck-span. The next day he came again. We thought perhaps he had found out by now. We said, “Doctor Sahib, what do you come to see every day? We’ll go to the gallows laughing. You’ll be there too. You’ll see, there aren’t many days left now.”

The doctor was stunned and swore he had no idea what were talking about. He said no one had told him yet. He then remarked that his presence was necessary at the hanging and that it was necessary for him to be told once the date of the hanging had been set, but he didn’t know why he hadn’t been told yet. We said, “Look at the power of these rulers. Even when they’re going to hang someone, they tremble that no one find out about it.”

Beloved brothers, it is very strict here now. We only have four sheets of paper with us and we got those with great difficulty after putting a lot of pressure. They don’t let us write letters to anyone. It is so bad that they haven’t even let us write to our parents about the date being set yet. The date has been finalized for three days now, but no newspaper has been allowed to carry the story.”

“Even while imprisoned by the enemy, we wanted to teach them such a lesson that even just seeing a Sikh should make them shake. Quite a while ago, their Defense Minister Sharad Pawar came to the jail. At that time he was Maharashtra’s Chief Minister. He came to our area and we said, “If you give us grief, just think about what will happen to you.” His face went pale and he replied, “No, no trouble will be given to you.” It was during Sharad Pawar’s time in office that Maharashtra’s jails had new yards built, which had iron bars even on top of them to make them like cages. No fresh air could come into them. Lots of regular Sikhs were arrested under TADA and thrown in these yards. None of them had hearings in courts. Seeing all this, it came to our mind that why not get some weapons and while sitting here, teach these dushts a lesson. Lots of other big Ministers used to also come to the jail. During our stay in jail we stayed here with pride and belligerence but the jail officials would harass the regular Sikhs a lot. They tried to commit excesses on us as well. Many times they tried to force us to wear prisoner uniforms, but we refused. We said, “we don’t accept your laws, so why should we wear prisoner’s uniforms?” We used to grab the Jail DIG and Superintendent by the neck and ripped many uniforms and slapped some other officials. We roughed them up with resolution. We humiliated them in every way. We’ve pushed them so far that they start to shake just thinking about coming into our yard.

The day the Superintendent told us about our execution date, we said that we wanted to send a telegram to our relatives but he said that he had orders from the top that forget outside people, even within the jail the date was to be kept a secret. He said that he had no choice and that we could swear at him or whatever else, he controlled nothing. He said, “one promise I will make is that I will let you see your family for a final meeting. We replied, “we don’t care about any meeting and these worldly relationships aren’t that important to us. But we’re astonished that you people have fallen from even basic humanity and your rulers are such cowards that they are afraid of even telling our families.” We said a lot of other things and embarrassed the Superintendent. We said, “you have good fortune otherwise even in your custody we would have sown you what happens when you oppress Sikhs. We didn’t have a weapon reach us and you’ve all been shaken to the core, if we got it, then you already know what would have happened
After two days, Balwinder Singh and Nirmal Singh went to the court in the bank case and the lawyers told them that the night of the sentencing, the judge could not sleep at all. All night the judge kept calling the lawyers and kept saying he could not sleep because it was the first time he had ever sentenced anyone to hang. “I did not want to sentence them to death. I had no choice. I have affection for them (Jinda and Sukha) from my heart. I have never met such people before. They are very good people. I will put up their photos in my house.”

But mother, your sons slept very happily that night. It was just like a farmer sleeps happily after having taken care of his crop.

Then that day, in front of everyone, the judge said to Balwinder Singh and Nirmal Singh that he wanted our and their photos because he wanted to put them in his home. The judge said he felt affection for us from his heart. Saying this, the judge began to cry.

The lawyers told Nirmal Singh that at first the judge had written a 20 year sentence in the Vaidiya case but when he came to announce his sentence and Harjinder Singh and Sukhdev Singh began to shout Khalistan slogans, and said that they were willing to sacrifice for Khalistan, the judge cut the 20 years and replaced it with death. Because of this, he wanted an extra hour to announce the sentence. The judge was compelled to announce the sentence of death. Today we have ordered a Diwali card for the judge and tomorrow we’ll send it to him.

The following are excerpts from letters sent by Bhai Sukha and Bhai Jinda in the final week before their Shaheedi on October 9, 1992.

October 2, 1992

That blessed hour which we were awaiting impatiently for such along time , will come at 4am on 9-10-1992. God has been very merciful to us. We consider ourselves very lucky. The preparations for your brothers weddings are complete but the world doesn’t know about it [Singhs see Shaheedi as a wedding to death]. Look at the fear of these rulers!

One day their senior doctor came and said he wanted to weigh us, etc. He measured our height, weight, and neck-span. The next day he came again. We thought perhaps he had found out by now. We said, “Doctor Sahib, what do you come to see every day? We’ll go to the gallows laughing. You’ll be there too. You’ll see, there aren’t many days left now.”

The doctor was stunned and swore he had no idea what were talking about. He said no one had told him yet. He then remarked that his presence was necessary at the hanging and that it was necessary for him to be told once the date of the hanging had been set, but he didn’t know why he hadn’t been told yet. We said, “Look at the power of these rulers. Even when they’re going to hang someone, they tremble that no one find out about it.”

Beloved brothers, it is very strict here now. We only have four sheets of paper with us and we got those with great difficulty after putting a lot of pressure. They don’t let us write letters to anyone. It is so bad that they haven’t even let us write to our parents about the date being set yet. The date has been finalized for three days now, but no newspaper has been allowed to carry the story.”

“Even while imprisoned by the enemy, we wanted to teach them such a lesson that even just seeing a Sikh should make them shake. Quite a while ago, their Defense Minister Sharad Pawar came to the jail. At that time he was Maharashtra’s Chief Minister. He came to our area and we said, “If you give us grief, just think about what will happen to you.” His face went pale and he replied, “No, no trouble will be given to you.” It was during Sharad Pawar’s time in office that Maharashtra’s jails had new yards built, which had iron bars even on top of them to make them like cages. No fresh air could come into them. Lots of regular Sikhs were arrested under TADA and thrown in these yards. None of them had hearings in courts. Seeing all this, it came to our mind that why not get some weapons and while sitting here, teach these dushts a lesson. Lots of other big Ministers used to also come to the jail. During our stay in jail we stayed here with pride and belligerence but the jail officials would harass the regular Sikhs a lot. They tried to commit excesses on us as well. Many times they tried to force us to wear prisoner uniforms, but we refused. We said, “we don’t accept your laws, so why should we wear prisoner’s uniforms?” We used to grab the Jail DIG and Superintendent by the neck and ripped many uniforms and slapped some other officials. We roughed them up with resolution. We humiliated them in every way. We’ve pushed them so far that they start to shake just thinking about coming into our yard.

The day the Superintendent told us about our execution date, we said that we wanted to send a telegram to our relatives but he said that he had orders from the top that forget outside people, even within the jail the date was to be kept a secret. He said that he had no choice and that we could swear at him or whatever else, he controlled nothing. He said, “one promise I will make is that I will let you see your family for a final meeting. We replied, “we don’t care about any meeting and these worldly relationships aren’t that important to us. But we’re astonished that you people have fallen from even basic humanity and your rulers are such cowards that they are afraid of even telling our families.” We said a lot of other things and embarrassed the Superintendent. We said, “you have good fortune otherwise even in your custody we would have sown you what happens when you oppress Sikhs. We didn’t have a weapon reach us and you’ve all been shaken to the core, if we got it, then you already know what would have happened Mother, Father, veer ji, at this happy time, do not feel sad. Mother, remain in Chardi Kalaa just like you were in Poona. What greater happiness can a mother have than for her sons to be executed for their faith? To celebrate this happy moment, ladoos should be given out. Mother, you gave the newspapers in Poona Chardi Kalaa statements. Reading those statements, everyone was amazed. Mata ji, only our hearts knows how much happiness we felt after reading your statements. You all should always remain in Chardi Kalaa.

This world is a play. Like a performer has put on a show and people see it and feel happy. After a short while, that performance is over. Just like that, the world too is a big show. For a while we see the show but its end does not take long at all. Know it for certain that one who is born will certainly die. Just like night naturally follows the day, death certainly follows life.

How long can someone run along a wall? It’s end will eventually come. Like this, life’s limited breaths also finish. Whatever we see in the world, besides God, is transitory. The eternal and life-giving Naam-nectar is pouring down everywhere though. But it only falls in the mouths of those who are sanmukh to their Guru. Those who have attached their consciousness to the Guru’s bani have their lives become sacred. They are accepted before God.

Otherwise Mata Ji, we will not appeal to the Supreme Court. You already know about this. I read your statement and was very happy to see you say that you will not appeal to the Supreme Court. If we did, it would not only be our disgrace, but the Panth’s as well. Even if someone asks you to, do not appeal. I am proud of you. Our spirits are with your spirits. Mother, your sons have passed the real test of life.

Bhai Jinda also notes how their conviction was based on their own admission. Of the 170 witnesses presented against them, only one managed to recognize Bhai Sukha. The rest were proven to be fakes and liars. The government’s case was a total disaster.

“The end of these evil Gangus is not far now [Gangu was the Brahmin who betrayed Mata Gujri and the Sahibzadas]. We have won. The entire Sikh community has raised its voice against oppression. Whoever fights against oppression has already won. We are not enslaved: we are free because we did not accept slavery. We are fighting enslavement. We may be imprisoned in jails but our hearts and minds are free to recite Naam and do ardaas for the Chardi Kalaa of the Panth. These evil Gangus can chain our bodies but they cannot chain our minds. They cannot change our beliefs with their oppression and torture.”

“If today we face the gallows, do not think that we are being sent there. We are going to the gallows by our own will. Even after accepting responsibility for our actions [killing Vaidiya] we could have easily been acquitted. If we wanted, we could have bought out our death (for only one lakh). But we consider going to the gallows as the best thing for the Panth. Your veers will happily kiss the noose that will hang us. What is this one life? We could give one lakh lives for this cause. For Khalistan, we will shed every drop of our blood and will rest only after having achieved it.”