CHANDIGARH: At the function organised on the eleventh anniversary of the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firing and sacrilege incidents, Sikh organisations read out a 10-page letter of shame (Sharam Patra) addressed to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and handed a copy to Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan for the government, as he was attending the function.
Kotkapura town in Faridkot district of Punjab and nearby villages of Behbal Kalan and Sarawan Bodla today completed eleven years of waiting for justice since two anti-sacrilege protesters, Krishan Bhagwan Singh and Gurjit Singh, died in police firing on October 12, 2015, as they were protesting against a two-day-old case in Bargari, where some torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib’s Bir were found scattered.
Disappointed with a political system that could not punish those behind the sacrilege and the two killings, Sikh organisations observed a day of condemnation (Lahnat Diwas) at the main chowk in Kotkapura today, accusing successive governments, including the present AAP dispensation, of failing to deliver justice despite the electoral promises made by them.
Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Kotkapura Congress leader Ajaypal Singh Sandhu and representatives of various Sikh bodies attended the function organised by Darbar-e-Khalsa and Sikh preacher Bhai Harjinder Singh Majhi, who read out a 10-page letter of shame (Sharam Patra) addressed to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and handed a copy to Sandhwan for the government.
The letter, signed by Majhi and Darbar-e-Khalsa chief spokesperson Harpinder Singh Kotkapura, stated that the organisation observes the day every year to mark the October 14, 2015, police action at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan.
The Mann-led Punjab government was accused in the letter of forgetting the issue after coming to power. It stated that retired IGP Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who is now a ruling party MLA and had investigated the cases under the previous government, was used as a "brand" to come to power, and that he was later denied time to speak on the issue in the state Assembly despite repeated requests.
The letter further cited the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by RS Khatra and claimed that the investigation findings pointed to the involvement of Dera Sacha Sauda. It alleged that the government withheld sanction for two years to name the Dera chief in the charge sheet. It also stated that approver Pradeep Kaler's statements named Gurmeet Ram Rahim and Honeypreet, yet no action has followed. The government's inaction, it said, suggests either that someone close to it is involved or that it has struck a "deal" with the accused.
The letter further accused the government of remaining silent on the accused's plea to shift the district court cases out of Punjab and said that the named accused, Harsh Dhuri and Sandeep Bareta, remain beyond the reach of the law.
Addressing the gathering, Majhi said the sacrilege and firing cases raised serious questions after 11 years and that the struggle would continue until justice was delivered. Representatives of the Sikh bodies said the SAD-BJP and Congress governments had also failed to bring closure, and that the AAP had promised justice before coming to power.
Congress MLA Khaira accused the government of not keeping its promises and of lying, while Speaker Sandhwan said the government was acting at every level to deliver justice and that efforts were being made to ensure it, in keeping with the sentiments of the Sikh community.
The letter also noted that Speaker Sandhwan had earlier stated in the Assembly that the case was held up because the accused had obtained bail. It said that bail does not bar investigators from investigating.
It further pointed out that the police have yet to file a challan in the Kotkapura-Behbal firing case, while the families of Krishan Bhagwan Singh of Niamiwala and Gurjeet Singh of Sarawan, who died in the firing, continue to wait for justice.
