No police official fires on the mob unless it is “direly needed” to avoid a troublesome situation, the Punjab and Haryana High Court Friday said while granting interim anticipatory bail to former SP Bikram Jit Singh in the Behbal Kalan firing case. Advertising He is the second person in the cases get interim relief from the High Court. The court on Monday had granted interim protection from arrest to Inspector Pradeep Singh. “Police party fired on the mob, which was gathered in an illegal manner, despite issuance of proclamation under Section 144 CrPC. In normal circumstance, no police official fires on the mob, unless, it is direly needed to avoid a troublesome situation,” Justice Ramendra Jain said in the order while extending the interim protection to Bikram Jit till May 21. According to the SIT probe into the case registered in 2015 at Bajakhana Police station, the police officials present at the spot in Kotkapura and Behbalkalan had “misbehaved with the public” and used force against them when they were “protesting peacefully” against the sacrilege incidents of 2015. The situation worsened due to their action, according to the SIT. Two people were killed in the police firing against the protestors. Advocate Sant Pal Singh Sidhu, appearing on behalf of Bikram Jit, argued that the SIT has not investigated the case independently against him and other officers and has merely relied on the report submitted by the Justice (retd) Ranjit Singh Commission. The commission was setup by Punjab government in 2017 to look into the sacrilege incidents of 2015 and the police firing on public. The state argued that the injured civilian, Beant Singh, in his statement before the police specifically named Bikram Jit saying that on his direction Sub-Inspector Amarjit Singh had fired on Krishan Bhagwan, who died. The state counsel also submitted that no permission was taken from the duty magistrate before opening fire upon the mob. Opposing the bail, the counsel told the court that the investigation is still going on and Bikram Jit could hamper the probe in case. Advertising However, Justice Jain in the order said, “Having given thoughtful consideration to the rival submissions, this court is of the considered opinion that petitioner is not required for any custodial interrogation”. However, both Pradeep and Bikram Jit have been directed by the court to join the investigation as and when called for by the Police SIT.

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