Sikh groups put Badals in dock for getting Sirsa Dera chief off the hook in blasphemy case

  • | Saturday | 19th January, 2019

JALANDHAR: Seeking to put Badals in the dock for not presenting challan against Sirsa Dera chief in case of imitating tenth Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh at his Salabatpura Dera in May 2007 and Dera chief getting discharged from the case without any trial in 2014 during their rule, Sikh groups have urged the Punjab government to get the case reopened and put the Dera chief on trial. "However the court rejected the cancellation report after complainant countered police stand and later Dera head reached Punjab and Haryana high court which remanded the court back to the lower court in Bathinda in 2014. "Let Badals now explain this discharge of the Dera head," they said adding that SGPC also failed to pursue the case and its president should now also explain the reasons for this failure before the community. "Government should get the case reopened and get him prosecuted," they added.Sikh groups held that this case made it clear that there was dire need to get SGPC freed from political clutches. They announced that they would support the collective efforts, including the campaign launched by advocate H S Phoolka, to get SGPC free from political control.

JALANDHAR: Seeking to put Badals in the dock for not presenting challan against Sirsa Dera chief in case of imitating tenth Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh at his Salabatpura Dera in May 2007 and Dera chief getting discharged from the case without any trial in 2014 during their rule, Sikh groups have urged the Punjab government to get the case reopened and put the Dera chief on trial. They have also asked SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal to explain that why the top Sikh body failed to pursue the case.Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, prominent Sikh preacher Harjinder Singh Majhi and Alliance of Sikh Organizations (a conglomerate of over two dozen Sikh groups) activists led by Sukhdev Singh said that when simple families of two Sadhivs and journalist Ram Chander Chhatarpati could get the Dera chief convicted in cases of rape and murder with their grit and determination despite having limited resources, Badals failed the Sikh community in the case by helping the Dera chief even as there was widespread anger among Sikhs due to his blasphemous act.They pointed out that even as a high level enquiry by the Punjab Police had held that there was enough evidence against Dera chief, Bathinda police never presented challan against him and just a few days before 2012 assembly polls, police filed cancellation report in the Bathinda court. "However the court rejected the cancellation report after complainant countered police stand and later Dera head reached Punjab and Haryana high court which remanded the court back to the lower court in Bathinda in 2014. As government had given him long rope, Dera chief filed an application before the district and sessions judge Bathinda that he should be discharged as police did not file challan within mandatory three years and court then discharged him,” Majhi and Sukhdev said."It is more than evident that police acted at the behest of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who also held home department," they alleged, asking, "How could otherwise police help the Dera chief get off the hook even without facing a trial in such a high profile case"."Let Badals now explain this discharge of the Dera head," they said adding that SGPC also failed to pursue the case and its president should now also explain the reasons for this failure before the community. “It was only after this discharge from the case that Dera head and his followers got emboldened and they indulged in sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015," they added.They urged the Captain Amarinder Singh government to immediately order a time bound high level probe to fix the responsibility of the police officials who in place of going by the law followed illegal diktats of political masters and failed to prosecute the Sirsa Dera head. "Government should get the case reopened and get him prosecuted," they added.Sikh groups held that this case made it clear that there was dire need to get SGPC freed from political clutches. They announced that they would support the collective efforts, including the campaign launched by advocate H S Phoolka, to get SGPC free from political control.

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