Victims’ kin threaten to intensify stir if probe delayed beyond July 10

FARIDKOT: The family members of the victims of the 2015 Behbal Kalan firing and Sikh organisations protesting against the killings on Friday warned to intensify their stir if justice is not served in the case within the three-month deadline set by the Punjab government to bring it to a logical conclusion.

The state government had sought three months’ time, which ends on July 10, to complete the investigation in the case involving the killing of two Sikh men — Gurjeet Singh of Sarawan village and Krishan Bhagwan Singh of Niamiwala village in Faridkot district — on October 14, 2015 while they were protesting against a sacrilege incident.

A four-member delegation of lawyers met the kin of the victims on Friday to give them monthly updates about the status of the case.

The delegation, led by advocate Santokhwinder Singh Grewal, told the families that the Punjab advocate general office is continuously working on to get all the pleas filed by the accused dismissed in the high court.

“From May 24 to May 31, the HC had continuously listened arguments on six applications filed by the accused in the Behbal Kalan case. The arguments are completed but the court has reserved the order for July 4. We are confident that all the pleas will be dismissed and the case will be streamlined in the trial court,” they said.

However, the families of victims and Sikh groups on Friday gave an ultimatum to the delegation to come up with something significant with the timeframe of the deadline or they will intensify the agitation.

“In last two months, they have failed to bring news any significant development. On July 10, we will announce a further course of agitation if the government failed to fulfil its promise,” Sukhraj Singh, son of one of the victims Krishan, whose sit-in entered the 178th day on Friday, said.

A government delegation had earlier informed the protesters that the delay on legal front is due to various writ petitions filed by the accused, which are pending in the court. The case has not moved an inch in the trial court or the high court as the legal team is still contesting pleas filed by the accused in the high court, while the matter has been continuously adjourned in the trial court in Faridkot.

The next hearing in the trial court is on July 12, two days after the deadline sought by the government panel. The framing of charges against the accused in the trial court is also pending.