Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of Umrao Singh and fears that he may be tortured or killed in police custody. He was arrested in Delhi on 1 April 1993 and detained without charge in Lodhi Road Police Station Interrogation Centre until he was handed over to the Punjab police on 7 April. On 14 April police reported that he had escaped. Umrao Singh’s family and lawyer fear that he may still be in police custody and may be tortured and killed following a persistent pattern of extrajudicial executions and deaths in custody in Punjab, which are often attributed to an “encounter” between militants and police, or to an “escape” during such an “encounter”.
