Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa

Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa was a retired schoolteacher from Hassanpur village, Ludhiana, who spent his later years campaigning for Sikh prisoners kept in jail after finishing their sentences. His hunger strike began on 16 January 2015 and ended on 14 January 2023, and The Tribune's obituary calls it "one of the longest and most significant non-violent protests in Punjab's history". He died in January 2025, aged 91.

Before the fast: PUCL Punjab-Haryana wrote in March 2015 that he had been a teacher in a government primary school throughout his life and resigned in 1984 as a protest against the mass killings of the Sikhs. It says he went to jail in 1986 for the release of Sikh prisoners arrested in connection with the 1984 pogrom and Operation Blue Star, and was held for a year under the National Security Act without being prosecuted for any offence. ETV Bharat's Punjabi report says he advised the Dharam Yudh Morcha and was secretary of the United Akali Dal.

The hunger strike: PUCL says he began fasting at his village on 16 January 2015 and, writing in March 2015, said he had been fasting for 68 days. It says he was detained and forcibly taken to Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, on 8 February 2015, and that on 26 February his son Ravinderjit Singh was among four people taken into custody. PUCL says he sought the release of prisoners who had finished their terms but were kept in jail. The Tribune reported on 2 August 2015 that his daughter, Sarbarinder Kaur, said he would not end the fast until the Sikh detainees were freed, and that police did not let the Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu enter the Ludhiana hospital where Khalsa was; Bittu had come to ask him to end the fast. The Tribune described Waryam Singh, freed in February 2016 after almost 26 years in jail, as one of the 49 Sikh detainees for whom Khalsa had launched a struggle.

ThePrint wrote on 23 January 2023 that he began his fast after Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa ended his second hunger strike, that police later arrested him and force-fed him in hospital, and that he ended the fast after the Quami Insaaf Morcha started at Mohali, joining the common efforts. ETV Bharat says he was fed through a tube in his nose and ended the fast on 14 January 2023 after requests from the administration, his family and his associates, with the prisoner Jagtar Singh Hawara also appealing to him.

Death: ETV Bharat and PTC News say he died in the United States, aged 91; The Tribune's obituary is dated 15 January 2025.

Key moments

• 1986: jailed for the release of Sikh prisoners.
• 16 January 2015: begins the hunger strike.
• 14 January 2023: ends the fast after eight years.
• January 2025: dies, aged 91.

What he is remembered for: for the longest hunger strike in Punjab's recent history, taken up for the Bandi Singhs, the prisoners held beyond their sentences.