Shaheed Bhai Bhupinder Singh Bhola alias Fateh Singh Babbar

Babbar Khalsa

 

Bhai Bhupinder Singh was born to the blessed womb of mother, Mata Sukhwinder Kaur and father, Sardar Chanchal Singh in Jhujar Nagar, village Jandiala Guru, near Amritsar. Bhai Bhupinder Singh was the eldest of three children, with a younger sister Bibi Lovepreet Kaur and younger brother Bhai Davinder Singh. His family was a devote Gursikh family who earned a living from agriculture and farming their land. During his childhood, Bhai Bhupinder Singh lived at his maternal village in Bassi Pathana, near Sirhind and completed his schooling up to fifth class. Thereafter, he came back to his home village and continued his studies up to eighth class. Following this he began to work alongside his father, cultivating and farming their land.

 

Bhai Bhupinder Singh would visit Sri Harmandir Sahib regularly to worship. Bhai Bhupinder Singh would be dressed in his full Gursikh attire. Purely on the basis of his attire and Gursikh image, the police arrested him in June 1987, on one of his regular visits to Sri Harmandir Sahib. He was just outside the Sri Darbar Sahib complex near Ram Murti when he was picked up by the police who then proceeded to take him to the Maal Mandi Interrogation centre. They accused him of having close links with or being a Jhujaru Singh himself. He was brutally tortured by the police with the expectation Bhai Bhupinder Singh would uncover and give them information related to the Jhujaru Singhs. He was kept here and tortured for up to three days, after which he was transferred to the police station in Jandiala. Here the Police Station Officer known by the name of Suri continued the brutal torture for up to another eight days. Bhai Bhupinder Singh’s family were distraught and wanted their son back home. They pleaded with Officer Suri to let him go. After bribing Suri with a significant amount of monies, Bhai Bhupinder Singh was released. A 32-bore pistol was said to have been recovered from Bhai Bhupinder Singh.

 

After this, Bhai Bhupinder Singh went back to his family home to live a normal life and working alongside his father. Sometime after, Bhai Bhupinder Singh had travelled to Sarhali to purchase a tractor for his farming needs. Out of the blue, the local police officer Darshan Singh arrested him on sudden false charges of murder. From the Sarhali Police station, he was summoned once again by the Officer Suri who had him remanded for 13 days from Tarn Taran court, then sent to Amritsar Gumtala Jail. Here, Bhai Bhupinder Singh was unfairly imprisoned for up to eight months and the case was eventually acquitted. Despite the acquittal, he was kept on record under the TADA Act 25-54-59 Act.

 

Even after this, Thanedar Suri did not let go of him and continued to harass him. During the year 1988, when Suri was coming to arrest him with a warrant in his name, he was forced to run away from home. Bhai Bhupinder Singh went straight to Bhai Sukhjinder Singh Brar of Babbar Khalsa and joined his group of Jhujaru Singhs near the village of Brar. This was the last straw for him and the situation left him no choice but to pick up the firearm and now made it his mission to eliminate the likes of Suri.

 

When he was a fugitive, his family was greatly harassed. It was made difficult for his family to live in his house, and his family was not even allowed to farm. Bhai Bhupinder Singh’s mother along with the rest of the family went to live at her own maternal family home. Still the police continued to follow and harass them there. Bhai Bhupinder Singh’s mother’s brother and father were also picked up by the police a number of times and harassed. Once when Bhai Bhupinder Singh’s aunt was getting married, the police arrived and disrupted the function by searching the entire family gathering. Despite this torture and the brutal treatment to his family, Bhai Bhupinder Singh did not back down from his service and continued to take action against the enemies of the Sikhs and Indian security forces every day. He was respected in the area due to his morals and practicing ethics when carrying out any actions. Because of his justice policy, everyone loved him and supported his organization fully.

 

Among his fellow Jhujaru brothers were Bhai Sukhjinder Singh Brar Babbar (Village Jabowal, Tagra), Bhai Madha Singh Babbar (Village Vain Poin), Bhai Balkar Singh (Village Chhoti), Bhai Ranjit Singh Bittu (Jandiala), Bhai Balwinder Singh Binda alias Phula Singh (Village Dhar), Bhai Dilbagh Singh (Village Chotian, Tarn Taran), Bhai Sukha (Village Jandiala), Bhai Lakhwinder Singh Lakha (Village Billianwala, Sarhali), Bhai Daljit Singh Dalla (Village Gadli), Bhai Hira Singh Wariam (Village Kotli, near Joga Singh Wala).

 

By this point, the Punjab police had put a reward of 1 lakh rupees on Bhai Bhupinder Singh’s head. There were many direct encounters with the Indian security forces and Bhai Bhupinder Singh always managed to come out with bravery and by the grace of Guru Maharaj. On one occasion, in the village of Ekal Gadda, there was a very heavy cordon of police forces. Bhai Bhupinder Singh managed to escape in a very convincing disguise. The police were beyond themselves, as to how he had managed to escape.

 

Bhai Sukhjinder Singh Brar was martyred on 14th June 1989. After this, Bhai Bhupinder Singh Bhola continued to serve under the command of Bhai Madha Singh Babbar. During the last days, Bhai Bhupinder Singh faced some differences with his organization, which steered him to leave and he then joined the militia group with Baba Manochahal in the Bhindranwala Tigers Force of Khalistan organization. He had just been with Baba Manochahal for one day when Bhai Bhupinder Singh attained Shaheedi.

 

On 2nd March 1990, Bhai Bhupinder Singh was at the village of Ekal Gadda with four of his fellow Jhujaru Singhs Bhai Hira Singh Wariam (Village Kotli, near Joga Singh Wala), Bhai Ranjit Singh Bittu (Jandiala), Bhai Dilbagh Singh (Village Chotian, Tarn Taran) and Bhai Sukha Singh (Village Jandiala). The Jhujaru Singhs were touted out and the CRPF were already in the locality. This led to an immediate surrounding and attack from the police. A battle ensued which began approximately at 22:00 and continued till the early hours until 04:00. Bhai Hira Singh Wariam was able to escape. The remaining four Jhujarus Singhs continued the firing slowly making their way to the nearest village of Jahangir. As the firing continued, the Jhujaru Singhs eventually ran out of ammunition. By 04:00 on 3rd March 1990, Bhai Bhupinder Singh had no more ammunition left and understood this was his end. Instead of being in the wrath of police capture, it was very common for Jhujaru Singhs to take cyanide capsules and take their last breaths on the battlefield.

 

All four Jhujaru Singhs attained martyrdom. The police cremated their bodies at the crematorium grounds in Tarn Taran without the knowledge of their families. The families then came to collect their ashes. The area of Jandiala remained closed for up to ten days. Bhai Hira Singh Wariam went on to serve as a prominent leader of the BTFK and worked shoulder to shoulder with Baba Manochahal. Bhai Hira Singh Wariam attained martyrdom on 3rd December 1991.

 

Information given by the family of Shaheed Bhai Bhupinder Singh Bhola alias Fateh Singh Babbar