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Jang-e-Azadi memorial probe: Give questions about probe in writing, HC tells Punjab vigilance
The high court acted on the plea from Ajit Group of newspapers editor-in-chief Barjinder Singh Hamdard demanding that the probe initiated by vigilance should be handed over to the CBI.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday asked Punjab Vigilance Bureau to send a questionnaire to journalist Barjinder Singh Hamdard in writing and not to summon him in a probe regarding the construction and running of the Jang-e-Azadi memorial.
The high court acted on the plea from Ajit Group of newspapers editor-in-chief Barjinder Singh Hamdard demanding that the probe initiated by vigilance should be handed over to the CBI.
He had contended that “an open and public tussle” was going on between Ajit newspaper and the government. There was, as such, an irrefutable apprehension in his mind that the inquiry would not be fair, impartial and unbiased, the plea said.
The detailed order is awaited. However, lawyers associated with the case said that the vigilance bureau has been asked to convey the questionnaire in writing and not to seek his presence. The bureau has also been told to give a seven days advance notice to him in the event it was contemplating registration of a criminal case against him.
The plea also sought directions for an investigation into the manner “in which the probe in question has been initiated and how independent media houses are being pressurised either by withholding advertisements or by misuse of law at the behest of the state government.”
Hamdard, who was instrumental in the conception and construction of the project since 2012, quit as member secretary of the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial Foundation and as its managing committee president on April 10, blaming the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government of ‘repeatedly maligning the name of the memorial by sending police and vigilance teams.’
