PATIALA: Following the
re-initiation of action against four
superintendents of Punjab police in the 2012
patwari harassment case, victim
Mohan Singh Bedpur on Saturday raised questions against the failure of the
Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and the Akal Takht in getting him justice.
Mohan Singh said being a Sikh he had approached the SGPC and the Akal Takht narrating the injustice meted out to him for demanding the government fee of Rs 20 from SSP
Shiv Kumar Sharma to provide the land records of his properties in Rurki village of Fatehgarh Sahib District. After this, he was allegedly implicated in a corruption case pertaining to the paddy scam in
Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation (PUNSUP) and was arrested and tortured in police custody during which a constable was asked to sodomise him. He had spent five days in police custody. All this was done at the behest of Shiv Kumar Sharma and the other officers indicted by the probe conducted by Pannu had helped him in teaching the revenue official a lesson.
After his pleas with the apex Gurudwara governing body and highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, Secretary SGPC asked head granthi of Fatehgarh Sahib Gurudwara Harpal Singh to conduct a probe and submit a report. Mohan Singh said the head granthi held interactions with residents of Rurki village and also met some of the policemen and later submitted a report confirming that Mohan Singh had been tortured and implicated in a false case by the police.
The five high priests of all Takhts then met at the Akal Takht to discuss the matter and asked the SGPC to get justice for Mohan Singh. On February 18, 2013, Secretary SGPC wrote a letter to the chief secretary of Punjab government that proper action should be initiated against the accused persons for having violated the religious and human rights of Mohan Singh, who was stripped naked inside the police station and then sodomised by a constable while senior cops filmed the incident.
“However, the matter was put on a back burner and despite raising the issue with the Akal Takht Jathedar and repeatedly meeting the SGPC presidents (Avtar Singh Makkar and Kirpal Singh Badungar) all my pleas went unheard,” alleged Mohan Singh.
He contended that the SGPC always claimed that it would fight for the rights of Sikhs settled all across the globe, but it failed in fighting for the rights of a Sikh in their own state even when the government was that of the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). “It was the responsibility of the SGPC and the Akal Takht to make certain that action was taken against the accused person. I would like to ask the Gurudwara committee and Jathedar of the Takht how come a re-investigation into the clean chit given to the accused persons has now been ordered by the new government and why they failed in performing their duties,” contended Mohan Singh.
Earlier, an inquiry conducted by IAS officer KS Pannu had also indicted six police officials in the case. Recently, following a report submitted by IG Ferozepur Gurwinder Singh Dhillon, additional charges under Sections 377, 511, 211, 295-A, 120 B have been added to the 2012 FIR that was registered against the accused cops on orders of the then chief minister Prakash Singh Badal. In 2013 they were given a clean chit.
