When the news of Gobind Ram’s challenge came to Bhai Karam Singh, Bhai Sahib published a reply in the daily newspapers. He wrote,

“Next Tuesday we will be coming to the bridge at the Nasarkay stream. I will wait for you all day. We’ll have our battle there. You’re harassing innocent people for nothing and this fight is between the two of us. You come with your government’s force and I’ll come with my Guru’s Babbar force. I’ll come with the support of my Guru and you can come with the support of your government and its machinery. Why are you needlessly killing innocent mothers’ sons? Gobind Ram, it’s true that not every jungle has a lion in it, but sometimes, you enter a den filled with just lions. And then a dog of the government, like you, can’t find any way to run. You must come. The weapons in the hands of the Khalsa will wait for you all day.

In eagerness to meet you and test your mettle, Guru Panth Daa Daas,

Karam Singh (Babbar Khalsa)”

Bhai Sahib’s announcement terrified Gobind Ram. For days, he refused to even look towards the assigned place the Singhs had announced. The Singhs were eager to avenge the death of Patloo Singh and punish Gobind Ram and his butchers.

In these days, another incident took place. Two secret Babbar workers were arrested from Mehta Chowk. They were remanded to Gobind Ram’s custody where he brutally killed them. Along with those two Singhs, three other completely innocent youths were also killed. One young boy was a student of the twelfth grade and was the only brother of four sisters. All five Singhs were killed in a fake encounter. The young boy was just 16 years old. His mother cried herself blind.

The Singhs in Batala Police District were completely enraged. One day, our entire Jatha was staying in village Dalaer Khurd. Gobind Ram’s gang, with orange dastaars tied on their heads and Klashnikov rifles in their hands entered the village. One resident of the village, Malkeet Singh had arranged the marriage of his daughter and the gang of 20 goons entered into his home. The people at home thought they were Singhs and gave them food to eat. After eating their fill, the leader of the Black Cat party, Jasvinder Singh Kala explained why he had come. (Black Cats were gangs used by Punjab Police to defame Singhs. They dressed up like Singhs but did horrendous crimes so that normal village-people would turn against the movement).

Kala asked, “Who’s the owner of this house?”

Malkeet Singh replied, “Uh…Baba ji….yes…I understand you’re Singhs…” He was terrified. He was begging Guru ji to save him from these people as he had no idea who they were.

Kala shamelessly replied with a terrifying laugh, “Yeah…absolutely right. Babas…Khalistani Babas. HAHAHA” His other goons also began to laugh.

“Ok then. Give us all the girl’s jewelry and any other valuables.” He loaded his rifle and pointed it at Malkeet Singh.

“But Baba ji…I’m poor…how will I marry off my daughter?”

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll take care of that. You just bring us the goods. You don’t want us to make you Khalistan?” He put the barrel against the owner’s back. Malkeet Singh took all the valuables in his home and handed them over.

“Ok, now to take care of your daughter, right? We forgot all about that didn’t we?” Kala grabbed the girl, who standing inside, by the arm and threw her on the bed which was going to be given at her marriage. The girl began to scream.

Malkeet Singh pleaded, “Baba ji, you asked for what you wanted and we gave it to you. We considered you Guru’s Singhs and respected you…but please don’t do this…for Guru’s sake!” In the meantime, the fifteen year old son of the house went inside and grabbed a pitchfork which he thrust into the stomach of one of Kala’s thugs. Another gang member immediately shot the boy who fell dead on the spot.

Our entire Jatha heard the sound of the bullets. We were coincidentally only a few houses away from where Kala was so our entire Jatha of 20-25 Singhs went to where we heard the noise. We saw the naked girl lying on the bed and the blood soaked body of the young boy and we understood what was going on.

One Singh in the Jatha yelled out, “Oy! That’s Kala, one of Gobind Ram’s Cats…!!”

Bhai Karam Singh bellowed, “Family members, go hide inside. We’ll take care of this. Kill the gang but I want Kala alive! Start the attack!!”

All the Babbars opened fire and our rifles began to spit fire. The family members had no idea what was going on, but all ran and hid. Kala’s gang also opened fire in which two Singhs were injured. The Singhs were yelling “Akaal!! Akaal!!” and spraying bullets. Bhai Daleep Singh took out his new gun, the GPM and let it loose. After half an hour of firing, the other side became calm and the house’s courtyard was filled with bodies. The sound of bullets was replaced with sound of groans and cries. There were a total of 11 bodies. Two Singhs from our Jatha were also injured. From the family, only the one boy had been killed, who had been shot before we arrived. Kala, along with four injured thugs was captured. The girl put on clothes inside and then fell at Bhai Karam Singh’s feet. “Brother, if you didn’t come today then….Oh my god! My brother!” Seeing her brother’s body, the girl began to sob.

Bhai Karam Singh tried to console the girl, “No sister, compose yourself. These were government agents. Your brother is a martyr…a martyr in the battle for Khalistan.”

“In the morning, take the boy’s body for cremation and bring us a truck so that we can throw these dusht’s bodies into the Beas.” After the truck arrived, the entire Jatha loaded the bodies onto the truck and Kala with his companions was tied up and brought to the banks of the river Beas. The bodies were thrown in.

Bhai Daleep Singh broke the slience, “Ok, let’s do their Antim Saskaar as well.” One Singh took a five litre can and filled it with diesel from the truck.

“Hai! Oy Baba ji! We’re your servants…!” Gobind Ram’s lions had become goats.

The Singhs drenched the five thugs in diesel and threw a match at them. The dark night was lit up by the five who ran about for some time and then themselves jumped into the river.

The next day, the Singhs saw a four wheeler filled with BSF officers.

Bhai Daleep Singh asked, “Bhaoo, what’re the orders?” He was shining the barrel of his GPM with a cloth.

Bhai Karam Singh replied, “No…not today…Let them make a routine of things.”

In the meantime, at Amritsar, Bhai Gurnam Singh blew up a BSF tanker with a grenade and announced that Babbar Khalsa would make new grenade and bomb Jathas.

BSF vehicle blown apart

The four-wheeler made its rounds for three or four days when on the fifth, a massive explosion came from the road and the Madrasis inside were all smeared onto the ground. All 15 Madrasis had to be scraped off the ground.

A couple days later, we overheard to villagers talking amongst themselves about the explosion: “See that Bhaoo? The Guru Singh’s did something amazing eh? The next day the BSF were going to people’s houses looking for all the “spare parts”… Here’s Sahib ji’s leg and there’s Vada Sahib ji’s arm with all his ribbons! HAHAH”

Because of these attacks, the police in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Batala were all furious. They began to torture all normal residents. They would keep people for in police stations for no reason and rape the daughters of those Gursikhs who gave shelter to the Singhs. In village Leharkaa, we along with the Khalistan Liberation Force’s Bhai Jugraj Singh Toofan had a place we stayed. That household had a daughter who studied in the 10th grade. The police gave her a treatment which left our hairs standing on end. This girl was called Harjeet Kaur and her father and brother were already in Amritsar jail for giving shelter to the Singhs. Harjeet Kaur along with her older sister Parmveer went to meet them, when they caught the eye of SSP PK Sharma. That evening, Sharma came to village Leharkaa and took the girl to the police station, where she was badly tortured. That young body was subjected to third degree tortures. She was beaten with thick boards and hung upside down. They even put salt and chili pepper in her private parts. But this young Bibi did not even name a single Singh who came to her house. After she refused to do so, she was taken into a room where she was blindfolded and all night seven or eight police officers, along with Sharma raped her. She fell unconscious. When she regained her senses, she found herself lying alone and naked in the room.

After they could not take any information from her, the police released Harjeet Kaur. She was in a very bad state. She could not even walk properly. Her spirit had been broken and soon after, she hung herself and committed suicide.

Like Sharma, Gobind Ram also began to harass normal people. Finally, his evil reached its limit when he arrested the wives of Bhai Mehal Singh Babbar and Bhai Kulwant Singh Babbar. Both women worked in a bank and supported their children.

On August 21st, 1989, a van with tinted windows pulled in front of the bank. Six armed men got out and asked the women to come with them.

The women answered, “Who knows who you are? How can we go with someone we don’t even know?”

“Look at my ID. I’m Lakhwinder Singh Lakha, ASI. Now shut up and start walking with us or you’re going to be disrespected.” The ASI was yelling his threat.

The women began to yell and said, “We won’t go! How are you going to take us? You’ve got big dastaars and look like you’re the sons of Sikhs, have some shame!”

The ASI ordered his assistants, “Oy Shera! Pick them up and throw them in the van! People are going to start to gather and make a scene and our job will get harder.”. The officer followed his orders and forcibly took off the women’s dastaars, and tied their hands with them and threw them in the van. Their kirpaans were also taken off. They began to drive towards Batala’s “Beco” Interrogation Centre.

Shaheeds: Bhai Raminderjeet Singh 'Tainee' Babbar & Bibi Manjeet Kaur Babbar

Of those thousands of warriors that were martyred in the struggle for the Sikh Nation’s freedom there was a Saint Soldier who was very firm in bani and bana by the name of Babbar Raminderjeet Singh Tainee.

Bhai Sahib was born in the year of 1965 to Mata Sharanjeet Kaur and Master Amrik Singh in the city of Jalandhar. After receiving his elementary education Bhai Sahib went on to higher studies at Ramgharia College and Sukhchain-Anah College in Phagwara. Since college, Bhai Raminderjeet Singh followed the ideology of the freedom fighters. During this time, Bhai Sahib came to have great love for Sikh freedom fighters such as Shaheed Bhai Paramjeet Singh ‘Gandasa’ (prime accused in the incident against Shiv Sena President Rama Kant Jalota).

In the 1984 after Operation Blue Star Raminderjeet Singh was arrested by the police and sent to Jalandhar Jail where the Punjab Police severely tortured him and several false cases were put on him. After putting many more cases on Bhai Sahib, the Police sent him to Nabha Security Jail where he was locked up for 2 years. On being released from jail, Bhai Sahib went home but was unable to stay there as he would keep thinking about the chardi kala of the Khalsa Panth to which his soul was attached.

In the city of Jalandhar, the year 1987, Bhai Sahib killed a ‘Police Cat’ (Government sponsored informants/paramilitaries who were responsible for the death of many innocents and freedom fighters). Upon completing this task, Raminderjeet Singh began bringing to justice those enemies of the Sikh Nation who were hell bent on finishing off the Sikhs. By this time, Bhai Sahib had met many famous personalities in the Sikh freedom movement such as Bhai Avtar Singh Babbar Pehlvaan, Bhai Manjeet Singh Babbar and many other eminent freedom fighters of the Babbar Khalsa organization.

Shaheed Bhai Harmeet Singh Bhaowal Babbar

After some time the Jalandhar Police with a tip from a police informant arrested Bhai Sahib again. Once again, the Punjab Police showed their true character by ruthlessly torturing Bhai Sahib Ji, but he took all the police torture on his body with a calm and peaceful mind. Subsequently many cases were put on against Bhai Raminderjeet Singh Ji and he was locked up in Nabha Jail. It is here that he met Bhai Harmeet Singh Babbar Paouval, Bhai Charanjeet Singh Channi Babbar and other freedom fighters. Bhai Raminderjeet Singh Babbar and Bhai Harmeet Singh Babbar became very close to one another, their respect for one another was even greater than that of brothers, which also lasted until their last breaths.

In 1989, after spending quite some time in jail, Bhai Sahib came home but spent very little time there. He left home and never looked back as doing seva for the Khalsa Panth was his main motive. During the month of July, in the year 1990, Bhai Sahib’s father was attacked by a group of ‘police cats’, during this attack his father was gravely wounded. Accepting this challenge by the Indian security forces Raminderjeet Singh Babbar went after these ‘black cats’ who were operating under the name of ‘Indian Lions’. One by one, the true lion – Raminderjeet Singh Babbar, finished off all of these phony lions.

Seeing the immense seva that Bhai Sahib was doing for the Khalsa Panth, the head sevadaar of Babbar Khalsa International, Jathedar Sukhdev Singh Ji Babbar appointed Raminderjeet Singh Babbar as the chief sevadaar of the Jalandhar area. Some time later Bhai Sahib Ji made the Ropar area the center of his Panthic actions. Raminderjeet Singh Babbar along with Bhai Harmeet Singh Paouval Babbar, Bhai Balvinder Singh Babbar Jatana, Bhai Charanjeet Singh Babbar, and many other freedom fighters from the Babbar Khalsa organization began eliminating the enemies of the Khalsa Panth in the Malwa region and outside of Punjab.

On the evening of February 28, 1991, Bhai Nirmal Singh Babbar Gegaymajra, Bhai Harpal Singh Babbar and Bhai Raminderjeet Singh Tainee were traveling in a Maruti van near Chandigarh when the Punjab Police due to a tip off from a police informant surrounded them. Bhai Nirmal Singh Babbar became a martyr at that moment when he swallowed a cyanide capsule but the Chandigarh Police took Ramniderjeet Singh and Harpal Singh into their custody. While locked up, Bhai Sahib was ruthlessly tortured by the S.S.P. Sumedh Saini and other heartless officers under his command. Sumedh Saini heated up iron rods until they were glowing red and used them to burn Raminderjeet Singh Babbar. Bhai Sahib had burns all over his body. Even with such a ruthless method of torture being carried out on Bhai Sahib, the police interrogators were not even able to get his real name from him.

After hearing of Bhai Sahib’s arrest, the freedom fighters that were close to him kidnapped the relatives of Ludhiana’s Chief Minister Boota Sioh. This forced the police to publicly admit that they had arrested Bhai Raminderjeet Singh as otherwise the police would have killed Bhai Sahib in a false encounter. When the police admitted Bhai Sahib’s arrest, the freedom fighters released the relatives of the Chief Minister. Police Chiefs from both Jalandhar and Ludhiana came to Chandigarh so that they could torture Bhai Sahib and get some information out of him. The S.S.P. of Jalandhar devised a scheme to kill Raminderjeet Singh. He wanted to take Bhai Sahib to Jalandhar and kill him in a false encounter along the way. The Jalandhar S.S.P. wanted to carry out this plan as Raminderjeet Singh Babbar had eliminated an entire group of his ‘police cats’. Fortunately, the S.S.P. was unable to get permission from the Chandigarh Police to transfer Bhai Sahib to Jalandhar so he was unable to carry out his evil plans. Seeing all these schemes to get him eliminated, Bhai Sahib began making a scheme of his own, which was to escape from jail.

On February 25, 1992, Bhai Sahib was being transported by the police to the P.G.I. for a medical checkup. Carrying out the action that was preplanned by Bhai Sahib and his fellow freedom fighters of Babbar Khalsa, the freedom fighters attacked the police group escorting Raminderjeet Singh Babbar and freed him. During this daring escape a police Sub Inspector was killed and several police officers were wounded.

Upon being freed from jail, Bhai Sahib once again began fighting for the freedom of the Sikh Nation. The Punjab government was now offering a reward of 15 lakh for information leading to the arrest or death of Raminderjeet Singh Babbar.

Shaheed Bibi Manjeet Kaur Babbar

Subsequently, Bhai Sahib was married to Bibi Manjeet Kaur of Gango Radhram village. Bibi Manjeet Kaur was a true Gursikh bibi and had a very firm belief in Gurbani. Bhai Harmeet Singh Paouval Babbar performed the Anand Karaj of Bhai Raminderjeet Singh Babbar and Bibi Manjit Kaur. Even after marriage, there was no change or slow down in Bhai Sahib’s actions and determination to gain freedom for the Khalsa Panth. Bibi Manjeet Kaur began playing an equal part in the liberation movement for the Khalsa Panth, she along with her husband took part in many actions carried out by the Babbar Khalsa freedom fighters.

Shaheeds: Bibi Manjeet Kaur Babbar & Bhai Raminderjeet Singh 'Tainee' Babbar

In the Khalsa Panth, many great warriors have taken birth but unfortunately many traitors have as well. On March 5, 1993, such a traitor informed the police of the whereabouts of Bhai Raminderjeet Singh Babbar. Bhai Sahib and his Singhni were traveling by bus to Anandpur Sahib when near Khanna, the bus was stopped. The S.S.P. of Khanna had stopped and surrounded the bus with a large police force that Bhai Sahib and his wife Bibi Manjeet Kaur were traveling on. An ASI officer got on the bus and then grabed Bhai Tainee by the wrist. At this, Bibi Manjit Kaur took her pistol out of her purse and pumped three bullets into the ASI’s head. The police asked Bhai Sahib to step out of the bus, but Bhai Sahib had made up his mind to take on the police force and asked the passengers to get off the bus.

Bibi Manjeet Kaur Babbar & Bhai Raminderjeet Singh 'Tainee' Babbar Shaheedi Saroop

After the passengers had gotten off the bus, Babbar Raminderjeet Singh began the battle with the police force as he opened fire on them with his AK-47 assault rifle. In complete support of her husband, Bibi Manjeet Kaur also entered the battle and began firing on the police force. During this battle Raminderjeet Singh Babbar and his Singhnee Bibi Manjeet Kaur showed unparalleled bravery, together they showed the police and onlookers how an actual encounter takes place between the oppressive government and the brave Khalsa of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. On taking heavy losses, the police began firing very heavily on the bus from which the brave lion and lioness were fighting. Even though they were outnumbered and taking heavy gunfire from the police, Bhai Sahib and Bibi Ji stayed steadfast in the battle. Eventually, faced with such an overwhelming force, their guns fell silent. This brave Babbar along with his Singhnee have gone to Guru Sahib’s Charan and left us. Since Bhai Sahib’s younger brother and father were locked up in jail, his mother alone performed her son’s and daughter in-law’s ‘antim sanskar’ in the presence of the Khanna Police. The Khalsa Panth will forever have the greatest respect for such martyrs.

Taken from “Singh Soormay” by Khalsa Alliance.