Govt for fast-track court in Faridkot

FARIDKOT: The state government has proposed to set up a fast-track court in Faridkot district to speed up trails in six cases registered in connection with the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and subsequent police firing incidents in 2015.

A high-level meeting, chaired by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh took the decision regarding setting up of the fasttrack court. People privy to the development said that the proposal has been sent to chief justice of Punjab and Haryana high court for sanction.

As per the proposal, a joint director of prosecution department will be appointed as special public prosecutor to represent the state. The district administration has also been asked to identify a place to set up the fast-track court. Official sources said there are rooms available in district judicial complex, however, final decision is yet to be taken.

“The government has proposed to set up a fast-track court to provide justice to the victims of Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firing, and to probe sacrilege cases. The government is awaiting for the high court sanction,” said CM’s political adviser Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon.

The cases related to three FIRs registered in connection with sacrilege incidents and three FIR registered in connection with Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firing incidents would be put up for hearing in the fasttrack court. The first case pertains to the theft of the ‘bir’ from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village near Kotkapura in Faridkot district on June 1, 2015. The second was the putting up of a poster at Bargari village in the district on September 25, 2015; and the third was the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib as torn pages of the ‘bir’ were found scattered in front of a gurdwara at Bargari on October 12, 2015.

Three police firing cases include an FIR registered in Behbal Kalan firing incident on October 21, 2015, while two FIRs were registered separately in 2015 and 2018 in connection with Kotkapura firing incident. Bargari incident led to protests across the state, which resulted in firing incidents at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan on October 14, 2015. Two Sikh protesters— Gurjeet Singh and Krishan Bhagwan Singh — were killed during the protest at Behbal Kalan.

The SIT has named 11 persons, including former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, suspended IGP Paramraj Singh Umaranangal, former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Mantar Singh Brar and then Moga senior superintendent of police Charanjit Singh Sharma as accused in 2015 police firing cases. So far, SIT has filed eight chargsheets.