A fortnight after the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited the families of two Sikh protestors killed in police firing in Punjab and assured to take up the matter with the President, the young Gandhi scion on Thursday led a party delegation to demand a judicial probe into the firing incident.
Rahul Gandhi, leading more than two dozen of party leaders from Punjab including the State general secretary in-charge Shakeel Ahmad, secretary in-charge Harish Chaudhary, state Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa, former chief ministers Capt Amarinder Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, submitted a memorandum to the President Pranab Mukherjee and sought his “urgent” intervention.
The party also demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court, to be completed time-bound. The police had opened fire on protesters, protesting against the series of sacrilege incidents in the state, in which two persons were killed at Behbal Kalan area in Faridkot district last month.
A case of murder has been registered by the police against the unidentified police officials who opened fire on the protesters. However, the police claimed that they had fired in self-defence when the protesting members of various Sikh organisations clashed with them.
However, the Congress party’s memorandum stated that the “police opened fire on a crowd of unarmed protesters in Faridkot district killing two civilians and grievously injuring several others. The group assembled to protest the police’s inaction in the case of sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari village that occurred last month”.
“The general public was deeply saddened by the complete failure of the Badal government to make any progress in the investigation, and had assembled peacefully to put forth their point of view to an indifferent government,” it read, adding that it was “unfortunate that the Punjab Police showered bullets on the peaceful protestors as they were reciting hymns invoking the Almighty”.
The party pointed the large-scale protests following firing incident compelled the Punjab Government to register an FIR into the incident. “However, the government has failed to name any police officer involved in the firing, and deliberately made the FIR vague to allow tampering and cover-up during the investigation,” it alleged.
Pointing finger at the State Home Minister Sukhbir Badal, the party stated that in the absence of a clear answer from the Punjab Government and the manner in which it is dragging its feet in the investigation, it is evident that the “guilty are being shielded”.
In the memorandum signed by Rahul Gandhi, he said that the public’s confidence in the Punjab government and the Punjab Police has hit an all-time low. “Many people believe that instead of providing protection to the public, the Punjab Police is beholden to the Chief Minister and used for stifling dissent and intimidating adversaries,” he said.