Punjab: Sacrilege case closure report stir leaves six hurt

MOHALI: As many as six people were injured after police used water cannons and mild lathicharge to foil 200 Sikh demonstrators from entering Chandigarh from here during their protest against the closure report in the sacrilege case on Monday.
The injured are Gurmail Singh from Amritsar, Buta Singh from Barnala, Harpal Singh from Ferozepur, Kartar Singh from Rama Mandi, Bathinda, Kultar Singh from Amritsar and Avtar Singh from Moga. Kultar Singh’s ear drum was damaged, while Avtar Singh suffered a fracture in his arm, said Sukhjit Singh Khosa, leader of the protesters.
Earlier, the protesters assembled at the road on the Mohali-Chandigarh border near the education board building. Led by Khosa and Harpreet Singh Makhu, they attempted to cross the barricades put up by the Chandigarh police while raising slogans against former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, blaming them for shielding those responsible for sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib. They also accused Capt Amarinder Singh-led government of not taking any action against those protecting the accused.
Khosa said, “A group was taken to the house of the chief minister and an SP-level officer accepted a memorandum on his behalf. We requested them to take action against those accused in the sacrilege case and do not let CBI file a closure report. If the government fails, we will intensify our protest.”
The case will come up for hearing in a special CBI court here on Tuesday.
On October 12, 2015, torn pages of Guru Granth Sahib were found in Bargari in Faridkot district. In the protests that followed, two men died in police firing in Behbal Kalan village on October
14. Four followers of Dera Sacha Sauda were arrested in connection with the case in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala and Bargari villages. Recently, Mahinderpal Singh Bittu, a key accused, was killed in the high-security prison in Nabha allegedly by two inmates.