Sidhu at it again, questions Capt govt’s intent on sacrilege cases
CHANDIGARH: Continuing his attack on the Capt Amarinder Singh government, Amritsar East Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday questioned its “intent and deliberate delay” in cases related to the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and the subsequent police firing in 2015.
In a series of tweets, Sidhu said the choice was either to accept the high court’s judgment or appear against it in the Supreme Court, but the problem all along has been the same – intent and deliberate delay. “It is not about forming another SIT (special investigation team) but what have the SITs achieved in the past six years,” the former minister posted on Twitter, pressing for a fair and timebound investigation with a fasttrack court for a day-to-day trial.
The Congress, which had promised action against the culprits in sacrilege-related cases, has been in power in the state for the past more than four years.
On April 9, the Punjab and Haryana high court had quashed the SIT report in the 2015 Kotkapura firing case, pointing out serious gaps in the investigation. It has also directed the Punjab government to constitute a fresh SIT, sans then inspector general of police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who has opted for voluntary retirement from service since.
Sidhu, who has directly targeted Amarinder by questioning his role in the legal setback in the sacrilege cases, said that history has shown that re-investigation by the same agency compromises the case, makes the guilty wiser by allowing them a second chance to defend. “Yet if the government decides, it should ensure fair and time-bound investigation, and set up a fasttrack court for a day-to-day trial,” he tweeted.
He also stressed the need to make the government accountable and transparent in public eye on the emotive issue, which should have been top priority from day one or else this could lead to irreparable damage.
Though other Congress leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa, have also questioned the government on the legal setback in politically significant case, the former minister’s tirade against the CM in the past one week intensifies the tussle between the two with barely nine months to go for the state assembly elections.