Bargari sacrilege: State govt to get copy of CBI closure report

MOHALI: The Punjab government will get a copy of the closure report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege cases.

On July 23, the special judicial magistrate of the CBI rejected the Punjab government’s locus standi to seek a copy of the closure report.

Allowing the revision petition, CBI special judge NS Gill said: “As per rules, even a stranger is entitled to a copy in a criminal case and Punjab’s status, in any case, is better than that of a stranger.”

The judge also noted that it is not the case of the CBI that the closure report or the documents attached thereto are confidential or classified. No application was filed in the trial court under Section 173 (6) of the CrPC for not giving any part of documents to the complainant or the accused of the case being against public interest, the judge noted.

The court has directed the CBI special magistrate to supply the certified copy of closure report along with documents attached to the state government.

The state had filed a revision petition against the July 23 order passed by a special judicial magistrate who had dismissed Punjab’s application for supply of the closure report.

On July 4, the CBI filed a closure report in three cases of sacrilege — theft of a ‘bir’ of Guru Granth Sahib from a Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village on June 1, 2015, putting up of hand-written sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on September 25 and torn pages of ‘bir’ being found at Bargari on October 12 — against the accused.

The previous SAD-BJP government had handed over the cases to the CBI in November 2015.

ON JULY 23, A CBI COURT REJECTED PUNJAB GOVT’S LOCUS STANDI TO SEEK A COPY OF THE REPORT