Ranjit panel row: Capt slams SGPC chief
CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday accused SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar of obstructing the course of justice by refusing to appear before the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission probing sacrilege cases. “Instead of cooperating with the commission in the interest of the state’s peace and communal harmony, Badungar was refusing to join the investigation,” he said. ››
CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday accused Shiromani Gurdwa ra Par band ha kC om mittee(SGPC)p resident Kirpal Singh Badungar of obstructing the course of justice by refusing to appear before the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission probing sacrilege cases in the state.
“Instead of cooperating with the commission in the interest of the state’s peace and communal harmony, Badungar was refusing to join the investigation, exposing some nefarious interest in covering up the sacrilege incidents,” the CM said in a statement.
The decision to set up an independent commission to investigate sacrilege incidents, including that at Bargari in Faridkot district, was aimed at ensuring that those found responsible for destroying the communal fabric of the state were brought to book, said the CM. The SGPC should have welcomed the move instead of adopting a negative approach on it, Amarinder said, lashing out at the religious institution for issuing misleading statements at the behest of the Akali Dal, which “seemed to be striving hard to derail the inquiry, probably out of fear of exposure”.
The CM said as the religious body responsible for the protection of Sikh rights and welfare, the SGPC should have raised its voice against sacrilege incidents. In fact, with several of these incidents reported from SGPC-managed gurdwaras, it should have taken on the task of probing the cases, he added.
The one-man panel was formed by the Amarinder government in April to inquire into certain incidents of sacrilege reported from Punjab. The government had decided to set up a fresh commission rejecting as “inconclusive” the report of the Zora Singh Commission set up by previous Badal government.
There were a total of 121 incidents of desecrations of the holy texts and religious places between June 2015 and March 2017, including 30 incidents of desecrations of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, eight defilement incidents in gurdwaras, 56 desecrations of the gutka, 22 of sacrilege relating to Bhagavad Gita and five of the Quran.