The case has been filed under provisions of Section 10 A of the Commission of Inquiry Act which deals with penalty for acts calculated to bring the Commission or any member thereof into disrepute. (Source: File Photo)Retired Justice Ranjit Singh Thursday filed a criminal complaint in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia for their alleged statements against the Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate various incidents of desecration in Punjab. The Justice Ranjit Singh Commission was set up by the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government after it rejected as “inconclusive’ the findings of the Jora Singh Commission set up by the erstwhile SAD-BJP government.
“The case is with regard to the utterances and disrespect shown by Mr Badal and Mr Majithia. It has been filed in the High Court. The utterances were made after the Commission report was tabled in the assembly. The case has been filed under Section 10A of the Commission of Inquiry Act,” Senior Advocate Amarpreet Singh Deol told The Indian Express.
The case has been filed under provisions of Section 10 A of the Commission of Inquiry Act which deals with penalty for acts calculated to bring the Commission or any member thereof into disrepute. The provision says: “If any person, by words either spoken or intended to be read, makes or publishes any statement or does any other act, which is calculated to bring the Commission or any member thereof into disrepute, he shall be punishable with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.”
Rejecting the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal had called it a “waste paper” prepared at the “residence of chief minister Amarinder Singh”. “The report has no sanctity,” Badal said.
Likewise, Majithia had called the report ‘fabricated”, saying Justice Ranjit Singh had colluded with Amarinder Singh to defame the Akalis.
On October 15, 2015, two persons – Krishan Bhagwan Singh and Gurjit Singh – had died in alleged police firing to break a dharna in Behbal Kalan. The dharna was staged by villagers to protest against alleged desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in Bargadi village of Faridkot. The Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report had indicted former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal for these incidents.
