Journalist Mandeep Singh speaks with Satnam Singh (Barrister) of the Punjab Documentation and Advocacy Project (PDAP). He is leading a legal team of PDAP working to ensure accountability for human rights violations in Punjab.

The PDAP team represents the families of victims in cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances from the 1980s and 1990s—cases that were uncovered by renowned human rights defender Jaswant Singh Khalra.

These cases were investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the trials are being conducted before a special CBI court in Punjab. However, these cases represent only a small fraction of the widespread incidents of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances that occurred in Punjab during that period.

PDAP continues to document the remaining cases and is actively pursuing legal avenues to have them formally investigated.

A writ petition filed by PDAP is currently awaiting hearing before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In this exclusive interview, Satnam Singh, Barrister, along with Baljinder Singh, Advocate, shares important insights into these cases, ongoing trials and convictions, and their research into the broader pattern of human rights violations in Punjab.