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Behbal Kalan firing sixth anniversary: Will keep fighting for justice till culprits punished, say victims’ families, Sikh hardliners
Say they have lost faith in Punjab government; Sikh hardliners like Sarbat Khalsa-appointed parallel jathedar and Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (ad hoc) president Baljit Singh Daduwal give protest a miss
The families of the Behbal Kalan police firing victims and Sikh hardliners on Thursday said that they had lost faith in the Punjab government but they would keep fighting for justice till those responsible for sacrilege and subsequent violence were punished.
They said this at a ‘shaheedi samagam’ (martyrdom congregation) at Tibbi Sahib Gurdwara at Faridkot district’s Behbal Kalan village to mark the sixth anniversary of the firing episode on October 14, 2015, that left two Sikh men dead during a protest against the Bargari sacrilege incident.
While Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann attended the event, other Sikh hardliners like Sarbat Khalsa-appointed parallel jathedar Dhian Singh Mand and Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (ad hoc) president Baljit Singh Daduwal, who led the Bargari Insaaf Morcha, gave it a miss.
Sukhraj Singh, son of Krishan Bhagwan Singh who died in the police firing, said people voted for the Congress in the previous assembly election as it promised to punish the guilty. “But the government failed to give justice and is providing security to the accused. We have no hope of justice from this government. The people of Punjab must unite,” he said.
Six years were more than enough to act against the culprits and if any political party seeks votes on these issues this time, people should oppose it, he added.
Mann said, “Since July, more than 100 groups of Sikhs have offered arrest every day at Bargari as part of the morcha to protest against delay in justice. I appeal to one and all to participate in the morcha and offer arrest till culprits are punished.”
After the event, a group of SAD (A) leaders, along with others, marched from the gurudwara to the Dana Mandi at Bargari and were detained by the police. Since July, SAD (A) leaders are offering arrest after marching to the 2015 sacrilege epicentre every day to protest against the delay in providing justice.
Dal Khalsa spokesperson, Kanwar Pal Singh said all the political parties are doing politics on this issue. “They are only looking for personal gains. First, Amarinder Singh became chief minister by using this issue and now Navjot Singh Sidhu has used it to become Punjab Congress president. But no one has provided justice,” he said.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former inspector general of police (IGP) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who was a member of the previous special investigation team (SIT) which probed the 2015 police firing cases, also attended the event but he did not address the gathering.
Talking to mediapersons, Kunwar Vijay said he had come to pay homage to the victims. “It’s been six years since the incident, but justice has not been served. Even the Amarinder Singh-led government acted to save the Badals. The truth was revealed in the investigations conducted by me in Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firing incidents. While chargesheets have been quashed in the Kotkapura firing case, the court proceedings in the Behbal Kalan case are still undergoing in the court and justice can be served if the government properly prosecutes this case,” he said.
“I have filed an appeal in a double bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court against the quashing order. Earlier, I was hoping that the state government will help me but since they have appointed the accused’s counsel as advocate general I have lost that hope. Even now I think they will get my appeal rejected. Justice will be served if AAP forms government in Punjab,” he added.
Earlier in the day, a protest was held at Kotkapura terming the day as ‘lahnat dehadda’.
