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Punjab government ropes in human rights lawyer RS Bains as special public prosecutor in sacrilege violence cases
RS Bains is a well-known criminal and constitutional lawyer and has appeared in cases from across the political spectrum
Chandigarh: Human rights lawyer, senior advocate Rajwinder Singh Bains, has been named as special public prosecutor by the Punjab government to appear before trial courts and the Punjab & Haryana high court in the politically sensitive sacrilege violence cases of 2015, according to a government notification on Friday.
The move appears to be part of the steps being taken to assuage state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu by newly appointed chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi because it effectively keeps the state’s advocate general, APS Deol, out of the sacrilege cases.
On September 27, Sidhu objected to the appointment of Deol because the senior advocate had in the past appeared for some of the accused in the matter, including former director general of police Sumedh Singh Saini. Sidhu cited Deol’s appointment as one of the reasons for his sudden decision to quit as Punjab Congress president on September 28, only to change his mind after a meeting with CM Channi on Thursday.
To be sure, Deol could not have represented the state in the matter in any case because of his previous appearances for some of the accused.
Bains, son of former Punjab and Haryana high court judge Ajit Singh Bains. is a well-known criminal and constitutional lawyer and has appeared in cases from across the political spectrum, including cases of human rights violation in Punjab’s terrorism days in the 1980s. Bains has also been appearing against former DGP Saini in the Balwant Singh Multani disappearance case of 1991 and for Ajit Singh, the main complainant in the Kotkapura firing case. Multani, a Chandigarh administration employee, was kidnapped and murdered in Chandigarh. The FIR was registered in May this year and now Saini is accused in the case.
“It (the appointment of Bains) will ensure speedy justice in unfortunate sacrilege and firing incidents,” a government spokesman said adding, that the notification comes into effect with immediate force.
However, former SIT member and AAP leader Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh questioned the appointment.
“Another big fraud with Punjab and Punjabis by Congress government. Appointment of Special Public Prosecutor in Kotkapura -Behbal Kalan cases is only an eyewash. The intention of the government is very clear, to continue with the present advocate general,” he said.
In 2015, three incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs, were reported from Punjab’s Faridkot. Days later protesters broke out in Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan, where two people were killed in police firing. Three FIRs were filed over the desecration and two (one in August 2018, after the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission) over the police firing.
The then Parkash Singh Badal government handed the cases to the CBI. But in 2018, after Congress came to power, the Assembly withdrew permission to the agency and formed an SIT from state police. In April, the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed that SIT’s report.
The order triggered strong reactions from Navjot Singh Sidhu and other Punjab Congress leaders, who accused Singh of “incompetence” and declared him to be “hand-in-glove with the culprits”.
