Shiv Sena (Taksali) president Sudhir Kumar Suri.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Punjab government and its police on a petition filed by Shiv Sena (Taksali) president Sudhir Kumar Suri, who has sought transfer of investigation of FIRs against him to Haryana or Chandigarh. In an alternative prayer, he has prayed the cases be handed over to the CBI or an SIT to be constituted by the court.
Justice Hari Pal Verma, after hearing Suri’s counsel Sanjeev Sharma, issued a notice to the state and its police for July 29. The state was represented by Senior Deputy Advocate General Gaurav Dhuriwala.
According to Suri’s petition, four FIRs stand registered against him in Amritsar and three of the cases include allegations related to hurting religious sentiments of a community (295A IPC) and promoting enmity between different groups (153A IPC). The cases date from March 2017 to May 2020. Suri was arrested on July 12 from Indore in another case registered in Amritsar earlier this month for allegedly denigrating women and inciting enmity between different groups through a video uploaded on social media.
According to the state police however, 10 FIRs stand registered against Suri including one case in which he was convicted by the trial court.
In his petition, Suri said he has never acted as projected in the FIRs and has always been a “law abiding and peace loving citizen of India”. Describing himself as a reputed businessman of travel and transport in Amritsar, Suri has submitted before court that he has never flamed or intended to hurt the religious sentiments of any religion and blamed “illegal dangerous organisations” for the FIRs registered against him.
Suri also claimed that he is on the hit list of many “terrorist organisations” and that he was being targeted by the authorities because he was a “prominent Hindu leader” who is protesting the “terrorist activities on the behest of banned terrorist and khalistani organisation”.
Citing the recent verdict of Supreme Court in the case of Arnab Ranjan Goswami, Suri’s counsel on Tuesday argued that the four FIR have been registered against him on different occasions at different police stations but in the same pattern, adding that the same cannot be held to be maintainable in view of the apex court verdict.
“The petitioner has lost faith in Punjab Police and apprehends that he would be further implicated into some problem that he could suffer such a huge irreparable loss and injury that might not be compensated under any terms,” read the petition filed by Suri, adding he has been made to suffer by the police in connivance with anti-social elements and other local residents of Amritsar.