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Sacrilege closure report row: Punjab to file contempt plea against CBI for not adhering to HC order
Punjab advocate general Atul Nanda announced, on Friday, that the state government would file a contempt petition against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
Punjab advocate general Atul Nanda announced, on Friday, that the state government would file a contempt petition against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for failing to abide by the orders of the Punjab and Haryana high court of January 25. On the judgment that the government had taken as the basis for filing the contempt petition, Nanda said the HC had upheld the legality and validity of the action of Punjab government in withdrawing investigation in Bargari sacrilege cases from the CBI.
The goverment’s move comes a day after the CBI, on Thursday, told a special court in Mohali that a probe once handed over to it cannot be withdrawn in the absence of any statutory provision in the Delhi Special Establishment Act that governs the agency. The CBI counsel had cited 1994 judgement of the Supreme Court in a case of former Sikkim CM versus the agency to support its argument.
Nanda, flanked by chief secretary Karan A Singh and additional chief secretary, home, Satish Chandra, added that the CBI counsel had given no satisfactory answer for the delay of three years in investigating the matter. It was the previous SAD-BJP government that had handed over investigation to the central agency in November 2015.
Nanda added that the HC’s order had also brought on record that the CBI counsel could not produce any judgment to show that the state of Punjab doesn’t have the power to withdraw the consent it had previously given to the agency. In August 2018, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha had passed a resolution to withdraw consent for investigation, which was followed by a notification of the same.
He added, “We sent reminders to the department of personnel and training (DoPT) in the Centre, the parent department of the CBI, to hand over papers related to the investigation, to no avail.”
Nanda went on to add despite losing its powers due to the withdrawal of consent and despite DoPT coordinating with it for return of files, the CBI went ahead and hastily filed a closure report on June 29. He refused to comment on when the contempt would be filed, adding law points could not be publicly discussed.
‘LETTER BY PRABODH KUMAR HAS NO MEANING’
Asked for comments on SIT chief Prabodh Kumar’s letter on July 27 in which he had asked the CBI to complete investigation, Nanda claimed Kumar’s letter had been taken out of context. This SIT had been formed by the Congress government to investigate sacrilege and death of two protesters in police firing in Kotkapura.
“Kumar’s letter has no meaning and has been taken out of context. In most of the letter, Kumar has spoken about the slow pace of investigating and there is only one line on completing investigation,” Nanda added, while refusing to comment on Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa’s accusation that the Captain Amarinder Singh government was trying to save the guilty.
