Bareilly

Bareilly is a city in western Uttar Pradesh. Wikipedia says its cantonment was founded in 1811, when the East India Company built a small fort south of the city, and that it houses the Jat Regimental Centre, Headquarters Uttar Bharat Area, Headquarters 6 Mountain Division and the Junior Leaders Academy. It lies about 250 km from both Delhi and Lucknow.

Shahbeg Singh's posting. Accounts of the career of Major General Shahbeg Singh, later the planner of the Darbar Sahib's defence in 1984, place him at Bareilly before his dismissal. Wikipedia says he became General Officer Commanding of the Madhya Bharat Area on 6 July 1972; that in 1975 Indira Gandhi reportedly asked him to suppress the Bihar Movement and arrest Jayaprakash Narayan; that he replied in writing that the Army should not be involved in political matters; and that afterwards he "was assigned a command at area headquarters in Bareilly". SinghStation and All About Sikhs say he was GOC of the UP Area headquarters and that he refused to arrest Jayaprakash Narayan; All About Sikhs adds that a CBI inquiry followed to harass him. None of the three dates the move.

Key moments

• 6 July 1972: appointed GOC Madhya Bharat Area (Wikipedia).
• 1975: by these accounts, he refuses during the Emergency to act against Jayaprakash Narayan.
• 30 April 1976: dismissed, a day before his retirement on 1 May (SinghStation, All About Sikhs).
• He was later acquitted in a civil court; Wikipedia gives 13 February 1984 and All About Sikhs gives December 1983.

The Caravan, by contrast, says he was cashiered on corruption charges. In his May 1984 interview with The Telegraph he said that during the Emergency he had remarked that nobody was indispensable in the service of the country, and that the remark was reported to the Army Chief and the Prime Minister. The Army's own reasons are not set out in any source opened here, and none confirms that the posting to Bareilly was a punishment.

What it means today. Bareilly enters the Panth's story through this posting, the first step in the account that leads to his dismissal in 1976 and his death at the Akal Takht in June 1984.