“This is a collective community trauma, and I think the diaspora wants to find constructive channels to heal and to recognize that injustices occurred,” Singh’s daughter, Navkiran Kaur Khalra, told The Fresno Bee via phone.<\/p>\n
Here’s what to know:<\/p>\n
![\"Sikh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/fresno_bee_mcclatchy_articles_660\/0ff2418137ec3e75a29964f8d3b913e7.jpg\"\/)
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Sikh men walk in front of murals depicting Jaswant Singh Khalra and other human rights activists in Fresno.<\/p>\n
Who was Jaswant Singh Khalra?<\/p>\n
Jaswant Singh Khalra was a bank director in Amritsar in the northern Indian state of Punjab in the early 1990s when he began noticing that some of his colleagues had stopped showing up for work.<\/p>\n
Khalra started investigating their disappearances and allegedly uncovered thousands of disappearances and extrajudicial killings by Indian security forces.<\/p>\n
Khalra campaigned on behalf of the missing people’s families<\/a> and filed a petition<\/a> with the Supreme Court of India, claiming police had cremated the bodies of 25,000 such individuals after identifying them “unidentified” and “unclaimed,” Al Jazeera reported.<\/p>\n “I will challenge the darkness, even if I am just that one candle, that one light,” Khalra said in one of his final speeches<\/a>.<\/p>\n On Sept. 6, 1995, Khalra was abducted by police<\/a>, tortured and murdered. His body was never found.<\/p>\n Several police officials were later convicted in his killing.<\/p>\n “Satluj,” a movie based on Khalra’s life<\/a> and starring popular Indian actor and singer Diljit Dosanjh<\/a>, was released on streaming platform ZEE5<\/a> in July, then abruptly removed two days later.<\/p>\n ZEE5 said in a July 5 statement that the film would be unavailable in India<\/a> “until further notice” because of “current developments,” but did not explain what they were.<\/p>\n A Sikh man photographs his associate in front of murals depicting Jaswant Singh Khalra and other human rights activists in Fresno.<\/p>\n What are human rights activist’s ties to Fresno?<\/p>\n Jaswant Singh Khalra’s family has ties to Fresno.<\/p>\n His daughter Navkiran Kaur Khalra is a Fresno State alumna<\/a> who now works in the Bay Area, while her husband’s family is from the Central Valley, The Bee previously reported.<\/p>\n In September 2017, the city of Fresno named a park<\/a> after Jaswant Singh Khalra.<\/p>\n Nearly eight years later, Fresno’s Central Unified School District named a new elementary school<\/a> after Khalra, making it the first public school in North America to be named after a person of Sikh descent.<\/p>\n Hardev Singh, one of the organizers of Saturday’s event, told The Fresno Bee that community members came up with the idea of commemorating the anniversary of Khalra’s death about eight years ago.<\/p>\n “A group of 20 elder members of the Sikh community used to sit in the park during the evening,” Singh recalled “Then we came up in idea that we should tell the people about martyrdom of Jaswant Singh Khalra to the local communities.”<\/p>\n Singh said Khalra fought for the human rights for all people, irrespective of their religion, caste and creed.<\/p>\n When and where is event honoring Sikh activist’s legacy?<\/p>\n Saturday’s memorial will take place at Jaswant Singh Khalra Neighborhood Park<\/a>, 3861 West Clinton Ave. in Fresno.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/fresno_bee_mcclatchy_articles_660\/f6ae63178b1c51ae0203c5891d5a49fd.jpg\"\/)
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