Extending the “morcha” further, Behbal Kalan firing victim’s kin and Sikh organisations on Tuesday closed operations of the toll plaza at Jeeda village in Bathinda district on National Highway (NH) 54 and made free passage for commuters as a mark of protest.
However, the protesters continue to block Amritsar-Bathinda National Highway (NH-54) at Behbal Kalan on the third day against the alleged tardy pace of investigation and delay in court proceedings in the sacrilege and police firing cases. The commuters had to go through the diverted route.
Despite attempts by the district administration and police on second day, the protesters again refused to lift the blockade until the state government takes any concrete step to bring sacrilege and police firing cases to logical conclusion.
Two Sikh protesters — Gurjeet Singh of Sarawan village and Krishan Bhagwan Singh of Niamiwala village in Faridkot district — were killed on October 14, 2015, when they along with others, were protesting against a series of sacrilege incidents in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala.
Krishan Bhagwan’s son Sukhraj Singh is on sit-in protest for justice from the past more than 400 days at Behbal Kalan bus stop. Sukhraj said “It has been eight years when sacrilege and firing incidents took place. Even, for the past one year we are sitting on the road in protest but the state government has done nothing other than false assurances. Today, we have closed Jeeda toll plaza. Amritsar-Bathinda national highway is blocked but they are taking toll charges from people. Why they are charging people when the road is not operational. The toll plaza will also remain closed until these cases are not resolved by the government.”
{{/usCountry}}Krishan Bhagwan’s son Sukhraj Singh is on sit-in protest for justice from the past more than 400 days at Behbal Kalan bus stop. Sukhraj said “It has been eight years when sacrilege and firing incidents took place. Even, for the past one year we are sitting on the road in protest but the state government has done nothing other than false assurances. Today, we have closed Jeeda toll plaza. Amritsar-Bathinda national highway is blocked but they are taking toll charges from people. Why they are charging people when the road is not operational. The toll plaza will also remain closed until these cases are not resolved by the government.”
{{/usCountry}}SITs submit status reports for 4th time
Meanwhile, as per directions of the trial court, the special investigation teams probing Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing cases have submitted the status report in Faridkot court for fourth time respectively. The Kotkapura SIT had submitted the status report on January 31, while Behbal Kalan SIT submitted the report on February 4. In July last year, the Faridkot court had directed SITs to apprise the court at regular intervals about the status of investigations. “The status reports will not give us justice, even after eight years probe is still lingering on,” Sukhraj added.