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NEWS March 23, 2003 On March 13, 2003, Co-chairmen of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC), Tom Lantos and Frank R. Wolf, sent a letter to the President of India, Abdul Kalaam, expressing "serious concern about the possible execution of Davinderpal Singh." CHRC is a bipartisan working group on international human rights with over 190 members in the U.S. House of Representatives They wrote: "We are concerned that [Davinderpal Singh] may not have been given a fair trial in accordance with international fair trial standards. He was convicted solely on the basis of an unsubstantiated confession made in police custody, allegedly while suffering torture." The letter stated that Davinderpal Singh's confession was also used to prosecute his alleged a co-conspirator, Daya Singh, who was found not guilty on the grounds that the evidence put forth in the confession was not corroborated by any other witness. Nevertheless, the same confession that was rejected by the court in Daya Singh's prosecution was used to convict and sentence Davinderpal Singh. Given the nature of the evidence and the "serious due process concerns" that this case raised, the CHRC urged President Kalaam to immediately intervene and review the case with a view towards commuting the death sentence. Adding that "This would affect India's international reputation as a country firmly committed to due process and the rule of law, as well as respect for basic human rights." The CHRC letter was the first major show of support from
the United States for Davinderpal Singh. It was accomplished by the collaboration
of human rights organizations - Sikh Human Rights Group, Human Rights
Watch, Voices For Freedom - and by the American Gurdwara Parbandak Committee.
Davinderpal Singh's wife was also actively involved in talking to the
Congresspersons. |