During the Kharku Movement in Punjab, thousands of Sikhs attained martyrdom, with many losing their lives in fake police encounters. However, there were instances where the police faced genuine encounters with Kharku Singhs. These battles often lasted for hours, resulting in significant casualties for the police, even though the Kharkus were always vastly outnumbered by the police and Indian forces. One such event was the Behla encounter, which took place from June 8 to June 9, 1992. In this incident, ten Sikhs attained martyrdom—three of them were Kharku Singhs from the Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan (BTFK), and seven were innocent villagers unrelated to the Kharku Movement. The Indian security forces used these seven villagers as human shields to storm the house where the three Kharkus were hiding.
Behla Encounter
Around June 7, 1992, the police and CRPF set up a checkpoint in the Tarn Taran area, where they stopped a truck. Upon searching the truck’s cabin, they discovered a Mauser gun. The police arrested the driver and tortured him at the station, demanding to know how he had come into possession of such a significant weapon. Under duress, the driver confessed that he had given a lift to some Kharkus, dropped them off at Village Behla, and that they had accidentally left the Mauser in the truck. Acting on this information, the police confirmed through their informants that Kharkus were indeed hiding in Village Behla, possibly in a bunker.
The police activated their informants to locate the Kharkus’ exact hiding place in Village Behla. Based on their reports, the police learned that on the outskirts of the village, there was a two-story farmhouse belonging to Sardar Manjinder Singh, a former Akali MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly of Punjab). They suspected that the Kharkus were hiding there and possibly holding a meeting.
On the morning of June 8, 1992, a police team under the command of SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu (also known as Khabbu), DSP Gurjeet Singh, and SP Operations Khubi Ram, along with CRPF forces, surrounded Village Behla and the farmhouse. According to a statement from Bhai Behla’s father, around 9 a.m., SSP Ajit Singh Sandhu entered the village in his police jeep, accompanied by a mason who had previously built a bunker for Bhai Surjit Singh Behla. The mason identified the Kharkus’ hideout, confirming that they were concealed in the farmhouse bunker.
The police surrounded the haveli (farmhouse) from all sides and entered through the front gate, initially suspecting that the Kharkus had already fled and that the house was empty. When the police reached the second floor, SP Operations Khubi Ram and 28 of his personnel began searching the locked rooms. They broke the locks, only to discover that the Kharkus were hiding in the bunker beneath the rooms.
Upon realizing the basement lacked an internal door, the police began demolishing the floor, which also served as the bunker’s roof. Suddenly, the Kharkus opened fire from within the bunker. As soon as they emerged, they unleashed a burst of bullets, forcing the police and army team to retreat. Officers seeking safety moved to the highest roof of the building, where they became stranded once the encounter intensified.
With the first shot fired by the Kharkus, the Indian security forces panicked and scattered, running for cover like jackals fleeing from a lion. Despite being heavily outnumbered—three Kharkus against nearly 3,000 Indian forces, including Punjab Police and CRPF personnel—the Kharkus fought valiantly. Before the battle began, the Kharkus performed their Shaheedi Ardaas (martyrdom prayer) and prepared for the fight.
The three Kharkus—Bhai Surjit Singh Behla, Bhai Sukhdev Singh Laddi (also known as Maddi or Chotta Behla), and Bhai Harbans Singh Sarhali—held their ground in the encounter, which lasted for 36 hours. During the battle, three police officials and one army officer were killed. SSP Sandhu, SP Khubi Ram, and 26 other officers were stranded on the farmhouse roof until after the martyrdom of the Kharkus.
In a desperate bid to escape, SP Khubi Ram disguised himself in civilian clothes thrown to him by a fire brigade and climbed down a water pipe to avoid being identified by the Kharkus, who might have shot him on sight.
After the police retreated, Bhai Surjit Singh Behla and his companions searched the ground floor of the building, where they found the village Sarpanch. Behla was shocked to see him there and asked why he had come. The Sarpanch and others explained that the police had brought them as human shields. Behla assured them of his help, offering cover fire to aid their escape from the building. Before helping the Sarpanch leave, Behla handed him a final letter for his family, containing three important messages:
- Tell my father not to leave Behla village.
- Tell my wife to obey my mother and father.
- At a certain place, I have hidden Rs. 20,000. Tell my father, Bapu Tarlok Singh, to take the money and arrange Akhand Paaths for us.
The haveli had 15 windows from which the Kharkus were firing on the second floor. Bhai Surjit Singh Behla himself operated a GPM machine gun with a drum magazine and made three attempts to confront the police officials hiding on the roof since the beginning of the Behla encounter. However, he faced difficulty due to being heavily outnumbered. The Kharkus had a limited supply of ammunition, with only one GPM, one SLR, and one AK-74. The SLR had been taken from Parkash Chand, a jawan of the Dogra Regiment, who had been killed in an earlier encounter with the Kharkus.
On the other hand, the Indian forces had an unlimited supply of ammunition and thousands of personnel. The army and police launched relentless attacks using grenades, rocket launchers, and LMGs, which caused significant damage to the building, creating large holes in its structure and setting it on fire. Despite these challenges, Behla and his companions continued their fight, drawing inspiration from the historic battle of Chamkaur Sahib.
During the encounter, one battalion of Indian forces and a helicopter were also deployed. The army even video-recorded the battle, attempting to document their efforts against the three Kharkus.
Human Shields Used by Indian Forces
Before the start of the encounter, the Indian Army and Punjab Police made loudspeaker announcements and gathered villagers on the ground. Before entering the farmhouse, the police officers decided to round up seven or eight villagers and force them to walk ahead of the police as human shields. These civilians were randomly selected and had no connection to the Kharku Movement. The police instructed them to open every room in the house to ensure that no Kharkus were hiding inside. Despite this, Bhai Surjit Singh Behla and his companions refrained from firing at the civilians.
At the end of the encounter, when the security forces realized that only three Kharkus had fought them and inflicted significant casualties, they took seven innocent villagers who had been wounded and executed them. The police falsely reported to the press that nine Kharkus and one civilian had been killed.
The names of the seven villagers killed by Indian Forces during the operation are as follows:
- Niranjan Singh Dhodhi (55), son of Boor Singh
- Dr. Sakattar Singh (25), son of Niranjan Singh
- Lakhwinder Singh (20), son of Channan Singh and a relative of Niranjan Singh
- Kartar Singh Parjapat (62), son of Aasa Singh
- Ajit Singh Parjapat (60), son of Mangal Singh
- Tara Singh
- Gurdeep Singh (65)
Innocent Civilians
Ajit Singh, a 60-year-old resident of Behla village in Tarn Taran, was married to Preetam Kaur and had seven children. He owned a horse-driven cart and worked for a brick kiln owner, transporting bricks to clients. Ajit Singh had no political or Kharku associations, no criminal record, and no enmity in his village. That morning, he had delivered bricks to Niranjan Singh’s house when the police arrived and forced him, along with Niranjan Singh and his sons, into the front column.
Niranjan Singh Dhodhi, a 55-year-old farmer, was married to Balwinder Kaur and had three sons and a daughter. A devout Sikh with no political or Kharku affiliations, he supported his family by cultivating three acres of land and selling milk from his buffaloes.
Dr. Sakattar Singh, Niranjan Singh’s 25-year-old son, assisted his father with agricultural work. He was married to Sharanjit Kaur and had two daughters, both of whom were very young at the time. Sakattar Singh had no history of arrests, political involvement, or Kharku connections. He was killed during the police operation. His younger brother, Sukhchain Singh, who was also forced into the front column, managed to escape after being seriously wounded by two bullets.
Lakhwinder Singh, a 20-year-old and the youngest son of Channan Singh and Gurmej Kaur, was watering his fields when the forces picked him up. He had no political or Kharku associations or criminal record.
Kartar Singh, a 62-year-old farmer, was married to Iqbal Kaur and had four adult children. Like the others, he had no political affiliations or criminal background.
The Family of Bhai Surjit Singh Behla
The security forces also brought along four sisters of Bhai Surjit Singh Behla in an attempt to pressure him into surrendering. However, Bhai Behla refused to lay down his arms, choosing martyrdom instead.
Survivor’s Account
Sukhchain Singh, who lost his father, Niranjan Singh, and brother, Sakattar Singh, during the encounter, recalls the harrowing events. He mentions that although his father and brother were labeled as Kharkus in the police FIR following the incident, no action was ever taken against him.
“I had just completed my 10th grade,” Sukhchain recounts. “We were building a room at our farm outside the village when a police team arrived and instructed my father, brother, me, and a laborer to get into their jeep. They transported us to the house of a former minister, where six other villagers had also been brought. We were compelled to enter the house where the Kharkus had taken refuge, with the police positioning themselves behind us for cover. We were made to search every room on the ground floor and then the second floor. Meanwhile, officers Ajit Singh Sandhu and Khubi Ram ascended to the third floor. Soon after, gunfire erupted from both sides. Five of us were killed instantly, including my father and brother. I sustained two bullet wounds and remained there for several hours. One of the injured later died in the hospital, while three others were unharmed.”
Sukhchain emphasizes that contrary to official reports, there were only three Kharkus present; the rest were villagers used as human shields. He questions why, if they were indeed Kharkus, he was never arrested or prosecuted in the years following the incident. He believes they were used to protect certain police officers during the operation.
Sukhchain insists that while the official narrative claimed the Kharkus fired at the civilians and Indian forces, it was, in fact, the Indian forces who shot indiscriminately at both the Kharkus and the civilians to cover up their failure in this encounter.
Profiles of Shaheed Kharku Singhs
Bhai Surjit Singh Behla: Son of Bapu Tarlok Singh and Mata Joginder Kaur from Behla village. His younger brother, Shaheed Bhai Dilbag Singh Behla, attained martyrdom at Sri Darbar Sahib during Operation Blue Star in June 1984. Bhai Surjit Singh Behla served as the deputy chief of BTFK Manochahal.
Bhai Sukhdev Singh Laddi (also known as Maddi or Chotta Behla): An 18-year-old son of Santokh Singh from Behla. After completing his matriculation, he began working at a sugar mill in Sheron. The police frequently detained and tortured his elder brother, Kulbir Singh, suspecting him of militant ties. Unable to tolerate the injustice done to his brother, Sukhdev Singh decided to join the militant movement. Later, on March 27, 1993, his father, Sardar Santokh Singh, was allegedly abducted by the police and disappeared.
Bhai Harbans Singh Sarhali: Son of Mehr Singh, from Sarhalli in the Tarn Taran subdivision of Amritsar district. Bhai Harbans Singh Sarhali was a close associate of Baba Gurbachan Singh Manochahal and was tasked with providing food to Bhai Surjit Singh Behla on Baba Manochahal’s orders.
Shaheedi and Aftermath
When Bhai Surjit Singh Behla and his companions ran out of ammunition, they consumed cyanide capsules and attained martyrdom. Before his martyrdom, Bhai Surjit Singh Behla deliberately damaged his gun to prevent it from being used by Indian forces in further killings of Sikhs in Punjab. The Belha encounter, which lasted for 36 hours, saw Bhai Behla and his companions bravely resist the heavily armed Indian forces, which were equipped with bulletproof tractors, armored vehicles, and mortar guns. Despite being exhausted and hungry, the three Singhs fought fiercely until their martyrdom.
After the encounter, when it was revealed that only three Singhs had fought the forces, the police, in a desperate attempt to cover up their failure, killed Seven innocent villagers who had been wounded, falsely claiming that nine militants had been killed. The police also reported that in the 36-hour Belha Encounter from the morning of 08 June 1992 to the evening of 09 June 1992, nine Kharkus, one civilian, three policemen, and one army soldier had been killed. This brutal act drew widespread criticism, and the bravery of Bhai Surjit Singh Behla became a subject of discussion in villages across Punjab.
General Chibbar of the Indian Army, who was in charge of the Indian forces during the encounter, remarked: “I am impressed that youngsters like these, who were only three in front of my 3,000 soldiers, fought like tigers. We didn’t achieve success until their martyrdom despite having every form of ammunition and resource. My army needs brave soldiers like Bhai Behla.”
The house where the encounter took place was left in ruins, with the outer walls and roof full of gaping holes, and rubble scattered all over.
Baba Gurbachan Singh Manochahal, deeply moved by Bhai Behla’s martyrdom, lamented: “Today my right arm has been broken.” He wrote an emotional poem in honor of Bhai Behla, often shedding tears while reciting it. Though the martyrdom of Bhai Behla and his companions may not be widely spoken of today, a time will come when their bravery will be openly celebrated once more.
Every year, villagers at Behla observe the Martyrdom Anniversary in remembrance of the three Kharkus and all the locals who attained martyrdom in that Behla encounter.
Written by the Editor and Admin of June84.com, based on accounts from survivors and Shaheed families.
