With heartfelt sadness we report the death of Ajit Sing Bains, Honorary Chairperson of Lok Raj Sangathan and a human rights activist on 11th February, 2022.
A former Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Bains, breathed his last on Friday. He was 99. He is survived by his wife Rashpal Kaur and four children, including senior advocate Rajwinder Singh Bains.
Justice AS Bains was a founding member of the Lok Raj Sangathan as well as its Honorary Chairperson. He was also the founder of the Punjab Human Rights Organisation.
Born in Bada Pind near Guraya in Jalandhar on 14th May 1922, he did his initial schooling from a local school and subsequently his law degree and MA (Economics) from Lucknow. He briefly worked with Punjab education department as a teacher but left soon to join the law profession in 1953. He started his practice at high court in 1961 and was elevated as a judge in October 1974 and retired in May 1984.
Throughout his active life he had been an inspiration for those who stood for justice and human rights. In the eighties when the Central Government unleashed terror and destruction in Punjab, he stood up courageously against the authority, spoke out openly against the commissions and omissions of the state in performing its duties and mobilised broad public opinion against the reign of terror.
Terrified by his unflinching criticism and incisive exposures, the Indian State went to the extent of arresting and detaining him in Chandigarh jail under the notorious TADA. But faced with widespread anger and opposition from all sections of our people, the state was finally forced to release Justice Bains after dropping all charges.
His publications such as Siege of the Sikhs (August 1988) and State Terrorism and Human Rights (July 1992, written when he was in prison), are exemplary writings in the state of human rights in the country.
Justice Bains had spearheaded the work of defending human rights throughout the country. From Manipur to Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir and all other states, people had looked up to him as a defender and good counsel of human rights. Till his last dying breath, he stood tall as a defender of human rights and a fighter for the well-being of our people.
The work of Justice Bains will continue to guide and inspire the work of our organisation in implementing the principle that ‘An attack on one, is an attack on all!’.
On this sad occasion, Lok Raj Sangathan conveys its heartfelt condolences to his son, Senior Advocate, Rajwinder Singh Bains and other members of his family.
