CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and
Haryana high court directed the Haryana government on Wednesday to furnish “complete information” of the February 2016 Jat agitation cases it plans to withdraw.
The cases were registered after widespread violence broke out during protests to demand reservation for the Jat community. A division bench comprising Justice A K
Mittal and Justice A S Grewal asked Haryana additional chief secretary (home) to provide information to it about the cases it wanted withdraw, including number of FIRs and nature of offences.
Orders were passed by the bench after senior advocate Anupam Gupta, who is assisting the HC as amicus curiae, raised the issue of government’s move to withdraw cases on pressure from the group spearheading the agitation. Gupta also referred to several media reports where the state had promised to withdraw cases.
Gupta submitted that
Parkash Singh committee, which proved the role of officers during the agitation, had furnished a comprehensive district-wise report, including the details of serious cases, such as killings, firing, arson and large-scale violence. “Magnitude of the agitation had compelled Justice Amit Rawal of the HC to draw its parallel with the 1947 Partition mayhem, after he took suo motu cognizance of the issue. As such, cases involving offences serious in nature could not be allowed to be withdrawn,” Gupta had argued.
The court adjourned the hearing of the case to May 22, asking the state to furnish details of cases sought to be withdrawn.
Also, the bench directed senior IPS officer
Amitabh Dhillon, who is investigating the cases registered during agitation, to submit a status report on the next hearing. Dhillon, now the commissioner of police in Faridabad, was appointed by the HC to probe cases after untraced reports were prepared in 921 of the total 1,205 cases registered in Rohtak district.
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