Handing over investigation in the initial cases of sacrilege to the central probing agency, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday indicated the involvement of “senior officers” in the incident that rocked the state since 2015.
Refusing to reveal the names of any of the police officer named by the Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Ranjit Singh to look into sacrilege cases, Capt Amarinder said that the investigations of Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing incidents have been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The Commission has recommended handing over the inquiry to the CBI in the first part of its report, which has reportedly held several senior and junior level cops guilty of firing at the innocent protestors in 2016.
Already, CBI is probing certain other cases of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib which were handed over to the central agency by the state government earlier.
Defending the decision to handover probe to the CBI, Capt Amarinder said that a junior level officer could not probe the senior officers by setting up a special investigating team.
“The decision to hand over to CBI further probe into the matter against all those implicated by the Commission had been taken to ensure an impartial and objective investigation after registering a case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” said Capt Amarinder.
He said that the role of all the police officers named by the Commission will be probed by the CBI and all documents related to the incidents will be handed over to the agency.
“Very senior officers could be involved so it was felt that the matter was best investigated by the CBI,” he said while categorically refusing to reveal any names.
It has been learnt that Justice Ranjit Singh has indicted the then Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini, besides the Inspector general of Police Paramraj Singh Umranangal, Deputy IG Amar Singh Chahal, along with three Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs).
Other than that, number of police officers has been found liable for failing to carry out proper and fair investigations of incidents of sacrilege and in the cases which were registered regarding use of force at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan.
The Commission has recommended appropriate action in accordance with law against all such officials.
“The Commission has, in particular, mentioned the role of Inspector Pardip Singh, Sub-Inspector Arriarjit Singh, and Superintendent of Police (SP) Bikramjit Singh and recommended them to be named as accused in FIR No 130 of Baja Khanna Police Station, and their role be thoroughly investigated which has not happened so far,” said the Chief Minister.
Chief Minister said that the role of the then Moga SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma, now retired, has also been cited in this context and the Commission has recommended that his role, and that of Constable Shamsher Singh, Constable Harpreet Singh, Constable Gurpreet Singh and Constable Parminder Singh, as also of Inspector Harpal Singh SHO ladowal, be thoroughly investigated as they were carrying assault rifles at Behbal Kalan.
The role of the Commando Police for use of indiscriminate lathi-charge, causing injuries to number of persons, has also been recommended to be investigated, which has not been done till date.
The Commission, in its first report, has recommended appropriate action against the then Kotakpura SDM and those police officials who, though not apparently guilty of any criminal act, were nevertheless seen to be responsible for police action.
COMPENSATION FOR VICTIM FAMIlIES
Chief Minister has announced compensation and jobs for the victims or families of the police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan that took place on October 14, 2015.
Capt Amarinder said that the government had agreed outright to the Commission’s recommendations to provide monetary compensation and jobs to the affected persons.
“The government has decided to enhance the compensation amount from that recommended by the Commission, whose report was legally examined by Advocate General Atul Nanda before being considered by the government,” he said.
The government has raised the compensation amount for the families of the two deceased from Rs 75 lakhs as recommended by the Commission to Rs one crore each, whereas the compensation for the seriously injured Beant Singh has been raised from Rs 35 lakh as recommended by the Commission, to Rs 50 lakh.
A member of each of their families would also be offered a job in the Government, he announced.
Further, the compensation for Ajit Singh, who has been incapacitated for life, has been raised from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 60 lakh. He would also be provided an attendant and reimbursement of medical expenses, he added.
All other injured in the firing incidents would be given Rs 10 lakh each, said Capt Amarinder adding that the government had decided on these measures as part of its efforts to instill a sense of justice in the general public, though it could not, unfortunately, bring back the people who had lost their lives.
