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Behbal Kalan firing victim’s son takes political plunge, to contest Gidderbaha bypoll
Gurjeet Singh of Sarawan village and Krishan Bhagwan Singh of Niamiwala village in Faridkot district, were killed in Behbal Kalan when police opened fire at people protesting against a sacrilege incident at Bargari in Faridkot district
Claiming that the successive governments have “failed to deliver justice”, the son of one of the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing victims on Sunday announced to contest the upcoming bypoll from the Gidderbaha assembly constituency as an independent candidate. He said he wants to question the government directly in the assembly instead of relying on other politicians.
On October 14, 2015, two Sikh protesters, Gurjeet Singh of Sarawan village and Krishan Bhagwan Singh of Niamiwala village in Faridkot district, were killed in Behbal Kalan when police opened fire at people protesting against a sacrilege incident at Bargari in Faridkot district. In a similar incident, several protesters were injured in Kotkapura.
Sukhraj Singh, son of Krishan Bhagwan, said, “We have been waiting for justice for the past nine years. My father was killed in a peaceful protest but three successive governments have failed to deliver justice. We have been asking questions to the politicians through protests but whoever comes into the government tries to run away. Now, I want to ask them questions directly in the assembly instead of relying on other politicians. We will counter them by becoming one of them inside the assembly.”
“I seek support from the people of Gidderbaha in my battle for justice. I will seek support from all the panthic outfits,” he added.
Sukhraj’s move comes months after independent candidate Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassin Beant Singh, won the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat. Beating all the odds and riding high on the panthic wave, Khalsa won with a margin of 70,246 votes, defeating chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s close friend Karamjit Singh Anmol.
Khalsa had got a lead of 12,133 votes from the Gidderbaha assembly segment. Sukhraj is also eyeing the panthic vote and repeat success like Khalsa.
In the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections, Raja Warring won the election by a slim margin of 1,355 votes, defeating SAD’s Dimpy Dhillon. Warring resigned from the seat after he was elected as a member of Parliament from Ludhiana in June.
Case status
The previous special investigation team (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 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. One accused, inspector Pardeep Singh, has turned approver in this case.
After the high court quashed the findings in the Kotkapura case, filed by SIT member and then IGP Kunwar Vijay Pratap (now an AAP MLA), the government formed a new team for a fresh investigation, led by IGP Naunihal Singh, on May 15, 2021. A new three-member SIT, headed by ADGP LK Yadav, was also formed to probe the Kotkapura firing case. Even three years after its reconstitution, the SIT led by Naunihal Singh has failed to conclude its probe into the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing case and submit a supplementary chargesheet.
In May, the Punjab and Haryana high court transferred the 2015 Behbal Kalan firing case from Faridkot to Chandigarh.
