Hitting back at SAD president Sukhbir Badal for demanding his resignation in the wake of Ludhiana Central jail violence and Dera follower “killing” at Nabha jail, Punjab Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Monday stated that the junior Badal is indulging in petty politics by commenting over the incident of violence perpetrated by the inmates of Ludhiana Central Jail.
Randhawa, in a letter to the Akali president, said that had the state’s former Home Minister been in knowledge of the jail manuals, “he would not have demonstrated his intellectual hollowness by demanding my resignation”.
“If Sukhbir has not read the jail manual during his tenure, he would do well to go through the Section 363 to 367 of the manual in which it is clearly mentioned that the jail officers are fully authorized to use weapons in order to deal with any untoward situation,” pointed Randhawa.
Further castigating Sukhbir for equating the violence and thereafter firing perpetrated by the inmates of Ludhiana Central Jail with the Behbal Kalan firing incident, Randhawa asked SAD president to apologize to the entire Sikh community. “Sikhs reciting gurbani and demanding the arrest in a peaceful manner of those responsible for the sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, cannot be equated with the jail inmates and such comparison can never be digested by anybody,” he said.
Reminding Sukhbir about how the gangsters kept running away from the jails during the tenure of erstwhile SAD-BJP Government, Randhawa gave him the list of various incidents of violence and jail breaks during their tenure including the Nabha jail break in which infamous gangster Vickey Gonder among other fled.
Coming to the issue of CRPF deployment in the state’s central jails, Randhawa clarified that the demand for the same had already been made by the State to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. “If SAD president is actually concerned about the jail security issue in Punjab, he should ask his alliance partners at the Centre to ensure the deployment of CRPF in Punjab jails,” he added.
SAD SEEKS FIR AGAINST RANDHAWA
Ludhiana: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday sought the registration of first information report (FIR) against Punjab Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa for alleged deaths of inmates in Ludhiana central jail and high-security prison at Nabha.
SAD’s Ludhiana-Urban unit president Ranjit Singh Dhillon, in a letter to Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore, has also accused Randhawa of “exploiting the situation to his own benefits”.
“One inmate, namely Sonu or Sunny Sood, has lost his life in the custodial death and one more person has been killed in the firing by the police at the behest of the Jail Minister,” he said in the letter. It is worth mentioning that Mahinderpal Bittu, the main accused in Bargari sacrilege case, was murdered in New Nabha prison of Patiala recently.
“The applicant and others had even tried to get their statement recorded as per provision of Section 154 CrPC but the police are working at the hands of the government and as such have refused to register the FIR against Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and others,” the letter added.