The main Opposition party in Punjab, Congress, on Monday demanded a probe by the central investigating agency into the alleged snooping by the SAD-BJP Government in the State against their political adversaries, members of the media and other sections of the society, by the State Government and its agencies, especially Punjab Police.
For this sensitive issue, the party has sought the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
State party president Partap Singh Bajwa, in a letter to the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court, said that a “high-level probe should be ordered into the snooping on political adversaries, members of the media and other sections of the society by the Akali Dal Government in the State”.
He sought the Court’s intervention saying that “only a comprehensive and impartial investigation would unravel the manner and the extent to which Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal have converted Punjab into a police State by violating the constitution and the law with impunity”.
Media reports suggested that the Punjab Government imported snooping devices to keep a tab on political adversaries and those who did not toe its line.
“It is alarming that the State Government is going in for purchase of more sophisticated snooping and surveillance technology and that the purchase has been cleared by an empowered committee,” Bajwa said.
“The intended purchase of such sophisticated technology was indiscriminate eavesdropping of Opposition leaders, judges and members of the media for the purposes of intimidation, browbeating, muzzling and arm-twisting by the ruling Akali-BJP alliance in the State,” he said.
He urged the Court to take suo motu notice of the act of the Punjab Government and order a probe.
He added, “Key members of the ruling family in the State are currently under the judicial scanner for several acts of commission and mission with regard to the drug trafficking racket, conflict of interest, Orbit bus case (Moga), Palanpur Eco Tourism resort case etc”.
Bajwa said that given the fact that the Assembly elections in the State were only a year and a half years away, “the same might be used to alter a level playing field and to target key members of the Opposition parties”.