A Punjab and Haryana high court bench on Tuesday questioned sacked former Punjab cop Gurmeet Singh Pinky’s claims of having knowledge about extrajudicial killings in Punjab during terrorism days.
The single judge bench of justice Rajesh Bindal, while hearing a petition seeking constitution of a judicial commission to probe alleged extrajudicial killings in Punjab, verbally observed whether a sacked cop, convicted on murder charges, could be relied upon.
Justice Bindal observed that Pinky was out of job for long and was looking for reinstatement. “How could he be believed? He is a murder convict,” Justice Bindal asked as human rights lawyer RS Bains argued that law did not provide that his confessions could not be taken into account because he was a murder convict. There was corroboratory information as well about such incidents apart from Pinky’s statements; hence, a thorough probe should be ordered, Bains argued.
The high court bench, while posting the matter for further hearing on January 29, has asked the petitioners’ lawyer to cite Supreme Court judgments, if any, with regard to alleged fake encounters in Punjab on the next date of hearing.
The court was hearing a petition filed in December, seeking constitution of a judicial commission on the alleged killing of innocent people in fake encounters. The petitioners are Ludhiana’s Parminder Pal Kaur, whose husband died under mysterious circumstances, and Hoshiarpur’s Gurjit Kaur, Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s niece, who lost her brother-in-law in one such alleged killing. The petitioners had also sought directions to record statements of Pinky who, in a recent interview, had given alleged instances of such killings.
The petition also carries an affidavit by Pinky, saying he stood by what was reported as the confessions in media on fake encounters recently and he is ready to depose before courts.
{{/usCountry}}The petition also carries an affidavit by Pinky, saying he stood by what was reported as the confessions in media on fake encounters recently and he is ready to depose before courts.
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