High Court orders CBI to hand over all sacrilege cases to Punjab police within a month

CHANDIGARH: Vindicating the Punjab authorities’s stance on the investigations into the 2015 sacrilege incidents, the Punjab and Haryana Excessive Court docket has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at hand over all case diaries and papers associated to the instances to the Punjab Police inside a month.

Terming the Excessive Court docket instructions as an endorsement of the state authorities’s stand on the problem, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh mentioned it was excessive time the CBI listened to the courts and handed the case information again to the state in order that the perpetrators of the crimes could possibly be dropped at justice. His authorities had been combating the CBI high-handedness for than 2 years, however the company had did not heed the assorted instructions and orders of the courts on this time, he identified. Asserting his dedication to deliver the instances to their logical conclusion, the Chief Minister mentioned the central company ought to respect the decision of the judiciary and cease overreaching the courts on the behest of its political masters.

The Excessive Court docket’s instructions got here throughout a listening to on the plea of one of many accused within the 2015 Faridkot sacrilege incidents, Sukhjinder Singh @ Sunny, difficult the investigation being undertaken by a SIT of the Punjab Police on the bottom that the CBI is already seized of the investigation.

The Excessive Court docket rejected Sukhjinder’s plea and requested the CBI at hand over all related paperwork and materials within the sacrilege instances to the Punjab Police. It additional directed the Punjab Police to think about the fabric handed over by the CBI and file a supplementary challan within the case, for consideration by the trial courtroom. The trial courtroom might then discover to the accused, if thought match, the judges additional mentioned.

It’s noteworthy that the CBI has been scuttling the SIT probe for the reason that state authorities withdrew its consent for the probe by the central company in 2018. The CBI has been persistently refusing at hand the case information again to state, and in September 2019, went as far as to represent a brand new investigative workforce in a transparent bid to impede the SIT investigation, after having earlier filed a closure report.

The SIT, it might be recalled, had been constituted by the Captain Amarinder Singh led state authorities in September 2018, after the Vidhan Sabha handed a decision withdrawing consent to CBI to analyze the instances, noting lack of progress within the investigation. This choice was challenged earlier than the Punjab and Haryana Excessive Court docket and was upheld by a judgment handed on twenty fifth January 2019. Regardless of this, the CBI didn’t hand over the case diaries and papers regarding the sacrilege instances to the Punjab Police. As a substitute, the CBI proceeded to file a closure report earlier than the CBI Court docket in July 2019. Thereafter, the CBI requested the CBI Court docket to maintain the closure report in abeyance and sought permission to analyze the case additional.

CBI’s enchantment difficult the 2019 judgment of the Punjab and Haryana Excessive Court docket was dismissed by the Supreme Court docket in February 2020. Even after dismissal of the enchantment, CBI didn’t hand over the case papers to the Punjab Police. A Particular Investigation Group was constituted by the Punjab Police to independently examine into the sacrilege issues. The SIT filed a chargesheet earlier than the trial courtroom in Faridkot in July 2020, which was challenged by Sukhjinder Singh.

The incidents of sacrilege occurred between June to October 2015 following theft of the sacred Guru Granth Sahib from a Gurudwara in Burj Jawaharsinghwala, Faridkot and discovery of torn pages from the Holy Ebook in Bargari, Faridkot. They brought about widespread discontent and outrage amongst members of the Sikh neighborhood.

These incidents led to large-scale protests and agitations in October 2015. The retaliatory motion taken by the police led to accidents and dying of two individuals. In 2015, the Akali Dal Authorities had transferred investigation of the sacrilege incident to the CBI. Retd. Justice Zora Singh Fee was appointed to inquire into the incidents of sacrilege and police motion within the protests, and a report was submitted to the Authorities in 2016.

After the Congress Authorities got here to energy in 2017, discovering the report of Retd. Justice Zora Singh to be inconclusive, the Authorities appointed a contemporary Fee of Inquiry, Retd. Justice Ranjit Singh Fee, who submitted a report in 2018.