Citing judge’s ties with Badals, SIT pleads not to assign cases to him
FARIDKOT: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the 2015 Bargari sacrilege and police action on protesters on Friday requested the Faridkot district and sessions judge not to hand over any related cases to chief judicial magistrate Harvinder Singh Sindhia in future, claiming that he has close family relationship with the Badals who have been “arraigned as accused”.
This is for the first time that the SIT has officially hinted that Akali Dal patriarch and five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and party president Sukhbir Badal are accused in cases related to the Bargari sacrilege.
Inspector general of police (IGP) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, a SIT member, on Friday submitted an application to the district and sessions judge Harbans Singh Lekhi stating that the Punjab government has set up teams to investigate cases of sacrilege and police firing incidents at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura.
“All these cases are under investigation and at least two chargesheets have been filed in court along with two supplementary challans. Former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and MP Sukhbir Badal have been examined during the probe and have been arraigned as accused in some cases. All these cases are neither mutually exclusive nor completely similar but inter-related in nature and scope,” the IGP said in the application.
IT’S FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT THE SIT HAS OFFICIALLY HINTED THAT EX-CM PARKASH SINGH BADAL AND HIS SON SUKHBIR ARE ACCUSED IN CASES RELATED TO THE BARGARI SACRILEGE
It is for the first time that the SIT has come on record saying that the Badals are accused in the cases related to sacrilege and police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan.
Claiming Sindhia’s close family link with the Badals, the SIT member said, “The independence and impartiality of judicial institutions is one of the paramount elements of basic structures of the Constitution. Therefore, it is requested not to entrust cases at any stage to Sindhia
in the larger interest of justice,” he added.
The district and sessions judge has asked Sindhia to file his comment on the contents of the application by June 29.
Sindhia is the son-in-law of Parkash Singh Badal’s close confidant, who has been working for
him for a long time, it is learnt. Sindhia was appointed as the duty magistrate for the hearings from June 21 to June 26. During this period, three accused arrested in the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firing cases were presented before him for the proceedings.