CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday ordered a judicial inquiry into the death of 22-year-old farmer Shubhkaran Singh, who lost his life at the Punjab-Haryana border in alleged police firing.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji was hearing pleas regarding farmers’ protest on the killing of the young farmer. The bench also constituted a three-member panel comprising a retired High Court judge and two ADGP-rank officers from Haryana and Punjab to probe the matter. “Investigations cannot be given to Punjab or Haryana for obvious reasons,” the bench observed orally.
The bench questioned Haryana on the kind of bullets and pellets used on protesters before observing that the death was a case of excess police force. Advocate Udhay Partap Singh, who is also the petitioner in the case, said that the court ordered the judicial probe into the death of Shubhkaran Singh.
“The probe will be conducted by a retired high court judge and two Additional DGP rank officers from Punjab and Haryana,” he said.
Reacting to the high court orders, the Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Partap Singh Bajwa said that the prime focus of the committee would be to find out the jurisdiction in which Shubhkaran’s death took place. It would also investigate the type of weapon used in the killing of the young farmer.
The AAP government is still attempting to establish that Singh’s death occurred in the jurisdiction of the Garhi police station of the Jind district of Haryana. However, the narrative failed to convince the division bench.
Killed during protest
A native of Bathinda, Shubhkaran was killed and 12 police personnel injured in clashes at Khanauri border point on the Punjab-Haryana border on February 21. The incident took place when some protesting farmers were trying to head towards barricades.