Sucha Soorma


Sucha Singh Jawanda was an Indian dacoit and convicted of murdering his sister-in-law, her lover, and seven others. His victims included Balbiro Kaur Jawanda and Khukkar Mall Chahal, who were both lovers. He was later captured after an extensive manhunt and sent to be hung to death on the gallows. He belong to Jawanda clan of the Jat Community. He was the subject of a series of Punjabi Kisse folk media.

Legend

Balbiro's wedding to Naraina

Balbir Kaur was married to Juaarh Singh in a village at the border of Patiala-Sangrur. She poisoned her husband when he failed to fulfill her expectations. She and her parents then welcomed other marriage proposals. Having heard about this invitation, Sucha Singh and Ghookar Mall went to see her and spoke to her on behalf of Sucha's elder brother Narain Singh. She accepted the offer under the conditions that they should bring her gifts such as jewelry at the wedding and give her freedom in terms of how to run the household.

Ghookar

According to legends, he was provided for within the limits of the time. As Sucha and Ghookar were very close friends they would often meet up at Sucha's residence. As Ghookar’s visits became more frequent, he decided to propose to Balbiro. She hesitated because of Sucha but was attracted to Ghookar, who was a landlord and a wrestler. Ghookar suggested that he and Sucha should join the army in Multan. After that Ghookar left the army and came back and started affair with Biro.

Return

Biro’s husband wrote to Sucha explaining the situation to him. Sucha returned and called the village council, but Khukkar rejected his demands. In the meantime, Biro unsuccessfully tried to seduce Sucha for stopping him from taking extreme steps, even though the majority of the village was on Khukkar’s side.

Murder of Khukkar and Biro

Khukkar organized an akhara and on this pretext called upon his various allies from other villages. When Biro was passing by and was named by Khukkar as his mistress, Sucha and his friends challenged Khukkar and his allies. Sucha shot and killed Khukkar at point-blank range. Sucha then killed his sister-in-law, who had run home in the meantime.

Defending Hindus

Sucha resurfaced a year later. On his way to see his brother, he came across an old Hindu woman in tears, sitting outside her house in her village of Bargaadi near Kotkapura. She stated that some Muslims in the village had been ill-treating the Hindus, killing and butchering their sacred cattle. They then had a feast to eat the meat and forced the Hindus to join. Sucha was outraged. He found the offenders as they were about to kill another cow and unleashed upon them. Sucha killed five of them while others ran away.

Murder of Raaj Kaur and Gajjan Vaili

Later, Sucha joined a group of dacoits and ran wild. A widow and a mother of two sons, Raaj Kaur, in village Gehri in Bathinda, was seen in the company of Gajjan Vaili, a man from the same village. The paternal uncle, Ran Singh, conveyed a message to Sucha about his sister-in-law. Sucha responded and killed both Raaj Kaur and Gajjan Vaili.

Capture

Police arrested him in Kot Shamir, a village close to Gehri, where he was convicted and executed in 1911