High court asks state govt to produce Ranjit panel report

CHANDIGARH : The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday directed the Punjab government to produce justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission report on incidents of sacrilege and firing in 2015.

The high court bench of justice Jitendera Chauhan passed this direction during the resumed hearing of a plea seeking compensation as recommended by justice (retd) Jora Singh commission, set up by previous SAD-BJP government to look into these incidents.

The report was summoned after the petitioner’s counsel, Rajwinder Singh Bains informed the court that government had been seeking time on the pretext that the report is awaited. Now, it has been submitted to the government and media has carried content of the report and also highlighted that incidents of firing was unwarranted.

The government counsel, on the other hand, had stated that report had been submitted by the commission but was still under its consideration.

Later, the high court had asked the state to submit the report either in a sealed cover or otherwise.

The petitioners, Sadhu Singh and Sukhraj Singh, both residents of Faridkot, had approached the court in April 2017 submitting that despite compensation of ₹25 lakh and a job to next to kin of deceased having been recommended by the commission, these had not been implemented.

In the Behbal Kalan firing incident, the son of Sadhu Singh had died while the second petitioner, Sukhraj Singh had lost his father.