Punjab withdraws notifications for CBI investigation

CHANDIGARH: T he Punjab government on Thursday issued notifications for withdrawal of the probe into sacrilege cases from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The notifications whereby Capt Amarinder Singh-led government has withdrawn its consent pertain to cases of sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari and police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan that were handed over to the central agency. The probe into these cases that are at the heart of a political storm brewing in Punjab was transferred to the CBI in 2015 and 2018.

The state government, which has decided to entrust the probe to a special investigation team (SIT) of the Punjab Police, issued the instructions to de-notify the earlier notifications in pursuance of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha resolution to withdraw the investigation. The governor has withdrawn the consent in exercise of powers conferred under Section 6 of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946.

A spokesperson of the chief minister’s office said the decision has been taken in the wake of the Justice Ranjit Singh commission report, which was debated in the special session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha on August 28, 2018. “It was observed by the House that, even after a lapse of three years from such entrustment of investigation, no report has been filed by the CBI .... the Vidhan Sabha viewed it appropriate that the incidents of sacrilege to Guru Granth Sahib which occurred at Kotkapura, Bargari, Behbal Kalan and the related incidents of police firing, for which cases were registered and investigation entrusted to the CBI be withdrawn from it and be investigated by SIT,” the spokesperson said.

While the previous SAD-BJP government had handed over the Bargari case to the CBI in 2015, the Congress government issued the notification last month to transfer the investigation into the cases of firing.

However, there are doubts about the applicability of the government move to withdraw consent for cases that were transferred about three years ago and are under investigation.

Experts have cited a Supreme Court judgment of March 1994 that had held that the withdrawal of consent for investigation by the CBI would not apply to cases wherein probe was pending..