Behbal Kalan residents building memorial to 2 men killed in 2015 police firing
FARIDKOT: Almost three years after police firing of October 2015 in Behbal Kalan village, 15 km from the town, killed Krishan Bhagwan Singh, 54, and Gurjit Singh, 27, of Niamiwala and Sarawan villages respectively, locals have started the construction of a memorial gate. The protests were triggered after a ‘bir’ (copy of Guru Granth Sahib) was stolen from a gurdwara at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on June 1, 2015, and on October 12, 2015, its torn pages were found scattered in front of a gurdwara at Bargari village. The protest at nearby Behbal Kalan was part of the statewide outrage.
Construction of the memorial started on June 5 and is expected to be complete by December this year.
Gurdwara Viveksar in Behbal Kalan has announced that it will bear the cost of around ₹15 lakh. Villagers and NRIs are also contributing.
“We will engrave the names of Gurjit Singh and Krishan Bhagwan Singh on the memorial gate that is being built on the link road to Behbal Kalan from Bathinda-Kotkapura road,” said Kheta Singh, head preacher of the gurdwara.
“The memorial will stand on the spot from where firing started on innocent people, who had gathered to protest peacefully,” he added. Another resident, Manjeet Singh, claimed that they will also build statues of the victims on the gate’s pillars. “The memorial will expose the illegal and immoral act of the Punjab Police in opening fire on unarmed, peaceful protesters,” said Gurpreet Singh, one of the protesters that day.
Policemen who opened fire have not been brought to book to date. The case has been lingering with a forensic report of the weapons used that day revealing that evidence was tampered with. The new Congress government had set up a commission led by Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) to probe the firing and the Bargari sacrilege incident. It is yet to submit its report to the government. Deputy commissioner Rajiv Prashar said, “I am not aware of the construction of the memorial. I will check.”
10 DERA MEN SENT TO JUDICIAL CUSTODY
MOGA:A Moga court sent 10 Dera Sacha Sauda followers including Mohinder Pal Bittu, the main conspirator in Bargari sacrilege case, to 14-day judicial custody on Tuesday. The men were arrested in a 2011 case of damage to public property registered at the Moga police station. A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team had questioned the 10 men on Monday.
A Punjab Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) is investigating two cases of sacrilege. These are recovery of torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib at Malke village in Moga district in November 2015 and a similar incident that was reported from Gurusar (Bhagta) village in Bathinda district in October that year.