‘Cops tortured villagers after Zora report, will approach SIT’
FARIDKOT : Newly launched Punjabi Ekta Party chief Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Saturday said he will approach the special investigation team (SIT) of the Punjab Police demanding probe into police torture and illegal detentions of residents of Faridkot’s Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in sacrilege cases over the findings of the Justice Zora Singh commission report.
Khaira, who was at the village gurdwara, met several men and women who narrated the tales of their alleged interrogation and torture by police in the past three years.
Justice (retd) Zora Singh had recently claimed that the police didn’t conduct proper investigation into the role of the granthi (priest) of the gurdwara from where Guru Granth Sahib was stolen in June 2015 and other residents of Burj Jahawar Singh Wala. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had also echoed his opinion.
The residents said that Zora Singh’s words hurt more them more than police torture.
“We will demand an FIR against Zora Singh and the cops. We will also approach the human rights commission, the Punjab and Haryana high court and if needed, the Supreme Court,” Khaira said.
“Zora Singh made these claims to get a ticket from the Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha seat. I appeal to people to drive Zora Singh away from the villages and show him black flags. I will take the fight to a logical conclusion,” said the former AAP leader.
He demanded ₹25 lakh compensation from the Punjab government for the alleged victims of police torture.
“The state government has failed to provide ₹5 lakh compensation to granthi Gora Singh’s family and ₹15 lakh to Panjgrain brothers Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh,” he said.