JAT STIR RIOTS: HC SUMMONS RECORD OF FIRS

CHANDIGARH: Terming the ongoing police probe into the riots that took place during the Hisar Jat reservation agitation of September 2010 “an eyewash” the Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday summoned all the case diaries in the 39 FIRS related to the episode. The Haryana police department’s decision to constitute a special probe team also got some flak from the court.

The riots took place during rallies by the Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti on September 13-14, 2010, when the NGO was agitating for a quota in government jobs for the Jat community under the other backward classes (OBC) category.

The court observed that the Haryana police had given a peculiar meaning to the term SIT and had constituted a “Special Identification Team” It questioned the rationale behind the team and also asked why the SIT, which has three deputy superintendents of police, was to look into two specific FIRS. It wondered why the SIT could not look into the other FIRS.

Wednesday’s directions were issued by a division bench comprising justice MM Kumar and justice Alok Singh during the resumed hearing of a PIL by NGO Anti-corruption Federation of India, seeking summoning of the record related to some news reports on the riots

The state’s counsel said challan in one of the two FIRS being investigated by the SIT had been presented. Of the total 39 FIRS chargesheets have been filed in 29 against 150 accused.