Maur Bomb Blast: 4 years on, victims’ families still await justice

Sukhmeet Bhasin
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, January 31

It’s been four years since six people, three children among them, were killed in an explosion outside Congress rally at Maur Mandi in Bathinda. But, for the families who lost their loved ones in that car explosion on January 31, 2017, grief mingles with anger—anger at the perpetrators, but also anger at the tardiness of the country’s justice system.

The families held a bhog on Sunday, the day that marks four years since the event. Police have yet to arrest three people suspected to have been involved in the case. “The state government, the district administration, and the police are dragging their feet on the case. The blast occurred at the end of the Congress rally, but the party leaders forgot the victims’ families. The blast was forgotten as soon as the elections were over,” a member of the Maur Bomb Blast Virodhi Sangharsh committee member said. The committee has been part of the families' struggle for justice.

Among the dashed hopes lies the promise of jobs for the families affected by the explosion—Maur Bomb Blast Virodhi Sangharsh Committee members Naveen Singla, Mela Singh, Devraj, and Sushil Kumar Garg claim the state government had promised a government job to one member of each family, but nothing ever came of it. As for compensation, the government paid the wounded Rs 50,000—a sum they say was inadequate to cover the cost of treatment.

A SIT-team that DIG Harjit Singh Kehra headed claimed two people had driven the explosive-laden car, which had been wrecked by blast, from Sirsa. An unexploded pressure cooker was also found at the blast site. Investigators later claimed they found a possible link of the blast with Dera Sacha Sauda—they named three suspects, Gurtej Singh Kala, who was allegedly in charge of the workshop with the explosives were fitted into the car, Amrik Singh, a security guard from Sangrur for the Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, and Avtar Singh, an electrician originally from Kurukshetra who allegedly helped fix the batteries used in the bomb.

Critics meanwhile claimed that investigations came to a complete standstill since a possible link with Dera came up.

In May 2018, a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked for the investigations to be handed over to the National Investigating Agency (NIA) or the Central Bureau of Investigation.

In October 2019, Punjab and Haryana High Court asked the state police to institute a new SIT for the investigations.  The new team headed by ADGP Ishwar Singh began investigating Dera’s alleged role in the incident.

SIT later named the three suspects in a chargesheet submitted at a court in Talwandi Sabo.