Exactly two years after the first sacrilege incident was reported in Punjab on June 1, Justice Ranjit Singh panel has sought information from the Punjab Home Department and the State Director General of Police (DGP) on the sacrilege cases across the State.
To begin with, the panel - constituted to investigate all cases of sacrilege of all religions - has asked the representatives from the two departments on June 6 to ascertain the “exact number of incidents” that has taken place in Punjab.
Reliable sources informed The Pioneer that the panel would soon call for all the details of cases and the progress that has been made in all the cases in Government’s notice.
The one-man Commission, set up by the Capt Amarinder Singh Government as a part of its poll manifesto, has a wider scope, compared to the Justice Zora Singh Commission set up by the previous SAD-BJP Government. All the cases of desecration of holy books, including Guru Granth Sahib, Quran, Bhagwant Gita, have been included in its terms of reference.
Besides, the panel has been asked to “bring to a conclusion” all the previous inquiries that have been inconclusive and incomplete.
The panel is also planning to request the media help. “The panel would call the media asking them to provide all the details of coverage of all the incidents, especially in Faridkot, as they are the one having neutral assessment of things,” a senior official said.
The official maintained that the panel would also ask the reporters to come forward to assist the Commission as they could give the “independent versions”.
The panel is also planning to visit all the places where the sacrilege incidents have taken place, and meet all the people concerned. In case the people hesitate to come forward, the Commission would itself approach them.
The Commission, set up under Section 11 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, has a six-month tenure, during which, it also intend to suggest “remedial measures” to prevent these cases.
The panel would get in touch with the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), political representatives, Sikh organisations to formulate measures how to curb these incidents.
Apart from all the incidents that has taken place, and in case, would take place, the Commission would also probe Kotkapura firing on October 14, 2016, and that of Behbal Kalan village in which two persons were killed. The state Home Department, in a compilation of the total number of cases, had recently identified 120 cases of sacrilege before the state assembly elections.