E-Paper
Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing: Seven years on, charges yet to be framed
In April last year, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) had quashed all reports filed by the previous SIT, headed by inspector general of police (IG) Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh (now retired and serving as AAP MLA) in the Kotkapura firing case, where police had opened fire at people protesting over the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari village of Faridkot district.
It has been seven years since the post-sacrilege police action on Sikh protestors at Kotakpura and Behbal Kalan rattled Punjab, but justice seems to be a far cry with the special investigation teams (SIT) yet to frame charges in these cases.
The probes too have barely made any headway.
Kotkapura case:
In April last year, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) had quashed all reports filed by the previous SIT, headed by inspector general of police (IG) Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh (now retired and serving as AAP MLA) in the Kotkapura firing case, where police had opened fire at people protesting over the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari village of Faridkot district.
Acting on HC orders, the state government constituted a new three-member SIT, headed by additional director general of police (ADGP) LK Yadav, which was directed to complete investigation, preferably, within six months. But 17 months on, the team hasn’t even filed a chargesheet. In August this year, the SIT, while filing a status report, is learnt to have told a Faridkot court that it will take a few more months to complete the probe.
Yadav-led SIT is also waiting for a date from the forensic science laboratory (FSL) at Gandhinagar in Gujarat for conducting a lie-detector test on suspended inspector general (IG) Paramraj Singh Umranangal. The consent for the test had been acquired 15 months ago.
The SIT also recently re-visited the incident site for forensic exam.
Since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has come into power in the state, the SIT has questioned Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal twice in the case, while his father and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has been questioned once.
The probe team had also questioned senior Badal and Sukhbir in June last year, during the Congress regime.
Behbal Kalan case:
In the Behbal Kalan firing case, it has been three-and-a-half years since the filling of the first chargesheet, but the Faridkot court is yet to start hearing arguments for framing charges, after which trial will start.
After IG Kunwar Vijay proceeded on voluntary retirement, the government formed a three-member SIT, headed by IG Naunihal Singh, in May last year but the probe and legal proceedings in this case haven’t moved an inch.
In May, the SIT told the HC that it was facing problems in the probe due to lack of access to findings of an inquiry into the Kotkapura violence, facts of which are interconnected with this case.
In its first activity in the past few months, SIT questioned Sukhbir on September 6.
The Kunwar Vijay-led SIT had in this case filed chargesheet against seven accused, including five cops.
The SIT claimed that the cops opened fire on peaceful protesters on the directions of Umranangal, who had got instructions from former director general of police Sumedh Singh Saini, and later conspired to fabricate evidence to cover up the incidents.
The first chargesheet was filed against former Moga senior superintendent of police (SSP) Charanjit Singh Sharma in April 2019. Later, the SIT filed chargesheet against four accused, including SP Bikramjit Singh in October 2020. While chargesheet against Umranangal and former DGP Saini were filed in January 2021, why the charges have not been framed is not known.
No political link in sacrilege
probe likely to put impact
The SIT probing Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing cases are facing a major challenge to linking the political conspiracy angle after another SIT led by-IG SPS Parmar, probing the Bargari sacrilege incident, concluded in its final report that there was no political involvement and the crime was committed under a well-planned conspiracy by dera ‘premis’ on the directions of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim for ‘revenge’.
Sikh outfits and political parties, including Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), had been pinning the blame on SAD chief Sukhbir Badal and former CM Parkash Singh Badal.
A chargesheet (now quashed) filed by Kunwar Vijay in May 2019 had said that incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib were “a pre-planned handiwork of then deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, then DGP Saini and Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda” and post-sacrilege firing incidents at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan were part of a conspiracy and directions came from the top.
Two Sikh protesters— Gurjeet Singh of Sarawan village and Krishan Bhagwan Singh of Niamiwala village in Faridkot district— were killed during the protest at Behbal Kalan when resorted to firing.
