SC upholds life sentence to farmer activist of Punjab

BATHINDA: Taking up over an eight-year-old appeal against the Punjab and Haryana high court order of upholding the life sentence to a farmer activist of Punjab, a division bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the petition. The apex court has asked activist Manjit Singh Dhaner (62), a resident of Dhaner village in Barnala district, to surrender to the police in four weeks.
On learning about the Supreme Court order on Manjot’s appeal, protests were held at various places across Barnala district.
Earlier, Manjit and two others had spent one and a half years in jail for a murder committed in Barnala court complex in 2001. Though the Punjab governor had granted pardon to three accused in the murder in 2007, the high court had set aside that order on March 11, 2008. However, the court had acquitted two accused — Narain Dutt and Prem Kumar — in the murder case while upholding Manjit’s conviction.
Manjit had filed two separate special leave petitions (SLPs) in the Supreme Court — one against the high court order of setting aside the governor’s order for pardon and other against his conviction in the murder case. The apex court had disposed of the SLP regarding the governor’s pardon in 2011.
Dutt and Prem, both from Barnala, and Manjit were fighting against the rape and murder of teenager Kiranjit Kaur of Mehal Kalan on July 29, 1997. They had formed the anti-rape and murder action committee to seek justice for the victim and her family. While they were going for hearings in the case, one Dalip Singh of Mehal Kalan was attacked in the Barnala court complex in 2001 and died a few days after. The three were named as coaccused in the case along with four others.
The Barnala sessions court had awarded life sentence to all seven on March 30, 2005 against which they had filed an appeal in the high court. Meanwhile, the Punjab governor granted pardon to Dhaner, Dutt and Prem on July 7, 2007 under Article 161 of the Constitution, which was challenged by the rival party.
Farmer organization BKU (Ekta Dakaunda) general secretary Jagmohan Singh and Dutt, who is the convener of Inqulabi Kendra Punjab, said they strongly felt that justice was denied to Manjit. “Dutt, Prem and Manjit had no role in the killing in the court complex. They were named by Dalip’s family members as they were holding protests against his grandson for raping and killing a teenaged girl. We had high hopes from the Supreme Court. As our hopes have been dashed, we are holding protests against the Supreme Court order,” he said.
BKU (Ekta Dakaund) president Buta Singh Burjgill said a meeting of various organizations had been convened on September 8 where a decision on their next course of action would be taken.