Police Torture in Punjab with Professor Ami Laws

Hi, I’m Sukhraj Singh from SikhArchive and welcome to the 50th episode of our Podcast series of conversations with historians, authors, academics, researchers, and activists on topics related to their areas of expertise on Sikh or Panjabi history. In this episode, we are joined by Dr Ami Laws, who is a medical practitioner from California and an adjunct associate professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr Laws is an internationally known expert with a specialization in the practices of abuse and torture. As such, she has interviewed and examined clients from India, countries of South and Central America and Roma from Eastern Europe. Her expertise has also been called upon by Nepali Nationals and persons from several countries in Africa And In 2002, She wrote an article for the President and Fellows of Harvard College on Health and Human Rights titled “Police Torture in Punjab, India: An extended survey.” Today we will be discussing this article and the study and fieldwork she conducted in Punjab which led to the findings of her report. It should be noted that this episode includes details of torture and an exploration of some specific case studies that outline the methods and the subsequent psychiatric harm that followed.