Punjab Congress on Sunday blamed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal “for inflicting extreme vengeance upon unemployed and defenceless Bikram Singh by pressurising Khanna police to slap non-bailable charges against him”
Peeved by the corruption and unemployment, a youth on Friday hurled shoe at the Chief Minister in ludhiana, which fell in Badal's feet. He maintained that his intentions were only to register his protest against the entire system and not at Badal in person.The Congress maintained that what can be rightly termed as “an extreme act of vengeance, high handedness and personal witchhunt”, Badal as an afterthought has pressurised the Khanna police to slap non-bailable Sections against Bikram Singh, to ensure that he remains in jail.
“I have learnt that Khanna Sadar Police Station has registered a fresh FIR under Sections 332, 353, 355, 506, 186, etc of the Indian Penal Code in the early hours on Sunday against Bikram Singh. This is gross and blatant human rights violation, as the accused is already in judicial custody at ludhiana jail, when these fresh non-bailable sections were registered against him,” said party leader Sukhpal Khaira.
He stated that earlier preventive action under sections 107, 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) vide a DDR was registered, which is a bailable offence. “Unfortunately, Bikram Singh was deliberately denied bail the whole day on Saturday despite the fact, that I had offered his surety bonds and which the ADC/SDM Khanna Ajay Sood willfully and purposely, avoided by remaining absent,” said Khaira.
Khaira alleged that police after apprehending Bikram Singh never informed his family, which they are duty bound as per Supreme Court directions, and his wife Nisha was misguided by the police to search for him at Patiala, Nabha and Sangrur the entire holiday, so that none could offer bail bonds at the time of his production before the court of SDM, who remanded him to judicial custody till August 25.
Asking Badal to learn generosity and magnanimity lessons from George Bush, P Chidambaram and Arvind Kejriwal, who all thought it befitting and appropriate to pardon such attackers, Khaira condemned the “double standards” of Badal and the SGPC, that on one hand, Jarnail Singh who threw a shoe on P Chidambaram was honoured by the SGPC, and on other hand, Badal is inflicting cruelty on Bikram Singh for a similar act.
He urged Badal not to personalize the issue and order unconditional release of Bikram Singh as promised by him to the media, on the day of occurrence of shoe throwing.