Bhai Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa

Bhai Gurbaksh Singh Khalsa was a Sikh activist from Thaska Ali village in Kurukshetra district, Haryana. Born on 12 December 1965 (Wikipedia), he campaigned for the release of Sikh prisoners, the Bandi Singhs, whom he said had completed their jail terms. He is credited with first taking up the cause that later grew into a standing Panthic demand (ThePrint). He gave two long hunger strikes and about five years to it, and the prisoners were not released as a result.

Key moments

• November 2013: he begins a hunger strike at Gurdwara Amb Sahib in Mohali. It lasts 44 days. ThePrint says he ended it on an assurance from the Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Gurbachan Singh, that the issue would be raised with the government; The Tribune says it ended on government assurances on 27 December 2013. He first sought the release of seven prisoners, including Devinder Pal Bhullar, Lal Singh Akalgarh and Gurdeep Singh Khera. In December 2013 Sikh organisations issued a list of 119 names (ThePrint).
• 14 November 2014: with the promises unmet, he resumes the strike at Gurdwara Lakhnaur Sahib in Haryana (The Tribune, ThePrint). He ends it in January 2015 after being taken to hospital (ThePrint). Wikipedia, citing Times of India reports, says Haryana police stopped him on 8 January 2015 from going to the Akal Takht.
• 20 March 2018: he dies at Thaska Ali, aged 52, after falling from an overhead water tank on which he was holding a protest (The Tribune). The police said he jumped while officials tried to bring him down and that the tank was not an authorised protest site. His father, Ajit Singh, said he died through hasty police action at a peaceful demonstration (The Tribune). On the night of 21 March the police booked unidentified police personnel for murder, under Section 302 of the IPC. His brother Jarnail Singh said his complaint had not said that Khalsa was killed, and that the family wanted the case to be abetment of suicide. He said the murder charge would weaken the case and protect the police. The family refused cremation until the erring policemen were suspended (The Tribune).
• 31 March 2018: his mortal remains travel in a cavalcade of about 50 vehicles from Amritsar toward Anandpur Sahib, with a demand that they be allowed darshan at the three takhts, which activists said the Haryana government did not allow. His followers said his demands should be carried on (The Tribune).

How long, and what it achieved: two fasts of 44 days and about nine weeks over 2013 to 2015, and protests until his death in 2018. No prisoner was released as a direct result. In January 2023 a permanent sit-in, the Quami Insaaf Morcha, began at Mohali for the release of nine Bandi Singhs, and ThePrint notes that the list had by then shrunk to about two dozen, many freed after finishing their terms or through protests.

Remembered for: reviving the Bandi Singhs demand as a mainstream Panthic issue, and for dying in the middle of a protest for it.