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9 years, 5 SITs: Sacrilege, police firings cases still caught in legal tangle
The trial courts are yet to frame charges against the accused as all the five cases related to Bargari sacrilege, Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firings
In the past nine years, five special investigation teams (SITs) of the Punjab Police besides the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have investigated the 2015 sacrilege incidents and subsequent police firings under successive governments, yet justice remains a distant dream for the victims. Despite tall claims, the successive state government have failed to take these cases to a logical conclusion.
The trial courts are yet to frame charges against the accused as all the five cases related to Bargari sacrilege, Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firings are stuck in legal tangles.
The Punjab and Haryana high court stayed the proceedings in the trial court in three interlinked cases of Bargari sacrilege in March this year. The proceedings in the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firing cases have stalled since May, following the transfer of one case from Faridkot to Chandigarh.
The sacrilege events began on June 1, 2015, when a ‘bir’ (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from the Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village gurdwara. Three derogatory posters threatening sacrilege were pasted at Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala villages between September 26 and 27, 2015. On October 12, 2015, torn pages of the ‘bir’ were found scattered in front of a gurdwara in the adjoining Bargari village, resulting in an outrage across the state. On October 14, 2015, police opened fire at two places at people protesting against the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib. At Behbal Kalan, two protesters died due to bullet injuries, and in Kotkapura, more than 50 persons were injured.
The violent response of the police action sparked public outcry, further inflaming tensions in the region. The incidents are viewed as a key factor that led to the defeat of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the 2017 assembly elections, reflecting widespread discontent with the government’s handling of the situation.
After the sacrilege incidents, the then SAD-BJP government had formed the SIT under then ADGP, IPS Sahota. The SIT was quick to claim a breakthrough at a press conference on October 21, 2015, terming the Bargari sacrilege incident “a handiwork of some foreign handlers” and arrested two Sikh youths. However, police theory came under fire and both the youths were released.
On November 2, 2015, the government handed the probe to the CBI in these three interlinked sacrilege FIRs. Meanwhile, the then SAD-BJP government had also constituted another SIT led by then DIG, RS Khatra, on November 30, 2015, to probe similar incidents of desecration in nearby villages in Gursar and Malke. In 2018, while probing other cases, the Khatra-led SIT claimed to have cracked the Bargari sacrilege case accusing Dera Sacha Sauda followers for the act.
On July 4, 2019, the CBI filed a closure report claiming that there was no proof against dera followers. On September 6, the Punjab government led by chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh withdrew the consent to the CBI to investigate the case. The probe in Bargari sacrilege cases was handed over to the Khatra-led SIT, which arrested six dera followers and named its head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh as accused in the “bir” theft case in July 2020. Following a high court order, the SIT was reconstituted and then IGP (now ADGP) SPS Parmar was appointed as head, while Khatra remained a member.
Bargari sacrilege cases in limbo since March
Despite the final chargesheet being filed by the SIT-led by ADGP SPS Parmar in three interlinked Bargari sacrilege cases in April 2022, the trial court is yet to frame charges against the accused, including the dera head, who has been named as the “main conspirator” in the case.
In February 2023, the Supreme Court transferred the trial in three interlinked cases of Bargari sacrilege from Faridkot to Chandigarh. On March 11, while hearing a plea filed by drea head Ram Rahim in 2015 sacrilege cases, the high court stayed proceedings at the Chandigarh court. However, the state government has failed to vacate the stay in the HC for the past seven months.
The trial court has listed the matter for November 28 awaiting directions from the high court which is slated to hear the case on October 18. The SIT is preparing to file a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to challenge the high court order staying proceedings before a trial court in Bargari sacrilege cases.
Punjab advocate general Gurminder Singh said: “A single bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court had stayed the proceedings in Bargari sacrilege cases. The single bench had referred the matter to a larger bench of the high court. The government is in discussions to move an SLP in the Supreme Court to vacate the stay. But these are only discussions as of now. We are looking into the proceedings in the high court as the matter is listed before a double bench for further process.”
As per the Punjab Police SIT probe the conspiracy to desecrate the holy Sikh scriptures was hatched at the administrative block of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa and the followers never acted without the permission of the sect head.
The state government is yet to give sanction to prosecute Ram Rahim in the Bargari sacrilege cases and the SIT proposal, submitted in 2022 to prosecute the dera chief under Section 295-A of the IPC, is pending with the state home department.
SIT yet to conclude probe into Behbal Kalan firing
After the Punjab assembly passed a resolution to withdraw the decision to hand over the probe into sacrilege cases to CBI, the Amarinder Singh-led government had also set up another SIT led by ADGP (now DGP) Prabodh Kumar to probe Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firing cases.
In April 2021, the HC quashed the findings in the Kotkapura case filed by SIT member and then IGP Kunwar Vijay Pratap who is now an AAP MLA.
On the HC’s directions, the state government formed an SIT headed by ADGP LK Yadav to probe the Kotkapura firing case and reconstituted the SIT probing the Behbal Kalan case, appointing ADGP Naunihal Singh as its head in May 2021.
Even three and half years after its reconstitution, the Naunihal Singh-led SIT has failed to conclude its probe into the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing case and submit a supplementary chargesheet.
The previous Punjab Police SIT led by ADGP Pramod Kumar had filed five chargesheets against seven accused in the Behbal Kalan case. The first chargesheet was filed in April 2019, naming former SSP Charanjeet Sharma as the conspirator, while the last supplementary chargesheet, filed in January 2021, named ex-DGP Sumedh Singh Saini and IGP Paramraj Singh Umranangal as masterminds.
Even five and half years after filling the first chargesheet, the court is yet to frame charges against the accused.
In May, the HC transferred the 2015 Behbal Kalan firing case from Faridkot to Chandigarh. However, no proceedings in the court have started in the case due to the accused’s plea claiming that SIT has failed to file final investigation reports in compliance with the high court directions.
Sukhraj Singh, son of Krishan Bhagwan Singh, who was killed in the Behbal Kalan firing incident, said: “We have been waiting for justice for the past nine years. Now, I will contest the Gidderbaha bypoll because if I win, I will be able to take up this issue in the assembly.”
Trial court awaiting HC directions in Kotkapura case
After the high court transferred the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing case from Faridkot to Chandigarh in May, the Faridkot session judge sought directions for transferring the Kotkapura firing case as well, but the trial court is still awaiting a response. In August 2022, the high court directed that both post-sacrilege firing cases be handled simultaneously.
In February 2023, the SIT led by ADGP LK Yadav filed a chargesheet against former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, ex-DGP Saini and five police officers in the Kotkapura case. A supplementary chargesheet followed in April 2023, yet the court has not framed charges against the accused so far. The SIT identified Sukhbir and Saini as masterminds of a conspiracy, while Badal senior was named as a facilitator before proceedings against him were closed following his death.
