Patiala: Following the re-initiation of action against four SPs of Punjab police in a 2012
patwari harassment case, victim Mohan Singh Bedpur on Saturday raised questions against the failure of the SGPC and the Akal Takht in getting him justice.
Mohan said being a Sikh he had approached the SGPC and the Akal Takht and narrated the injustice meted out to him for demanding 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. Following this, he was allegedly implicated in a corruption case pertaining to a 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 allegedly at the behest of Shiv Kumar Sharma and the other officers indicted by a probe conducted by PPCB chairman K S Pannu.
After his pleas with the apex gurdwara governing body and highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, SGPC secretary had asked the head granthi of Gurdwara Fatehgarh Sahib Harpal Singh to conduct a probe and submit a report. Mohan 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 he 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. 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 for having violated the religious and human rights of Mohan. “However, the matter was put on the 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,” he alleged.
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 SAD-BJP. “It was the responsibility of the SGPC and the Akal Takht to make certain that action was taken against the accused. I would like to ask the SGPC and jathedar of the Takht how come a re-investigation into the clean chit given to the accused has now been ordered by the new government and why they failed in performing their duties,” contended Mohan.
Earlier, an inquiry conducted by Pannu had 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 the orders of the then chief minister, Prakash Singh Badal. In 2013 they were given a clean chit.
