Sidhu questions Capt’s role in sacrilege cases
AMRITSAR: Sharpening his attack on Captain Amarinder Singh on the 2015 sacrilege incidents and drug trade, Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday questioned the role of the chief minister, accusing him of making the advocate general a scapegoat for the setback to the state government in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
In a tweet, Sidhu said, “Is the sacrilege case not the top priority for the (state) home minister? Evading of responsibility and making only the advocate general (AG) a scapegoat means the executive authority has no supervisory control. Who controls the AG? The legal team is just a pawn in this game of shifting responsibilities?”
On April 9, the high court quashed the Kotkapura police firing probe conducted by a special investigation team (SIT), led by Punjab Police inspector general Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh. The SIT was constituted by the state government, but the court asked the government to reconstitute it without Kunwar Vijay Pratap on board.
Kunwar Vijay Pratap opted for voluntary retirement but not before hitting out at Punjab advocate general Atul Nanda, alleging that that the legal team led by him did not strongly defend the Kotkapura police firing case in the court.
Sidhu, the Amritsar East MLA, has joined the issue with this tweet and held the chief minister, who also holds the home portfolio, responsible for the failure to defend the probe in the court.
This is the fifth attack the former state minister has launched on the chief minister in a week.
On Wednesday, he blamed “one person” for having colluded with the culprits, while sharing his old clips against the sacrilege issue on social media. He, however, neither disclosed the name of the person, nor did he clarify about the culprits he was talking about.
Responding to a letter by lawyer and former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA HS Phoolka on April 19, Sidhu said they should shake the chief minister to make him perform his duties and act against the accused in the sacrilege and police firing incidents.
The sacrilege of a bir (cop) of Guru Granth Sahib took place in Bargari village of Faridkot district in 2015.
During post-sacrilege protests, two Sikh protesters were killed in police firing at Behbal Kalan village. Protesters were also injured in the police firing at Kotakapura during the SADBJP rule. The Congress came to power in 2017, assuring voters of justice in the sacrilege incidents besides ending drug abuse.