Healing the hurt

K S Chawla

Amarinder Singh Taking a serious view of the incidents of sacrilege which took place in Punjab during the years 2015 and 2016 and shattered the sentiments of the Sikhs in particular and others in general, the Captain Amarinder Singh Government in the state has ordered a judicial enquiry into the same and appointed a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Ranjit Singh as the Chairman of the judicial commission.
Earlier, the SAD-BJP Government had appointed justice Zora Singh retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to enquire into the incidents of sacrilege. As a matter of fact, the Punjab state witnessed a number of incidents of descration of Guru Granth Sahib in the state and particularly in the districts of Muktsar and Faridkot which caused lot of resentment among the Sikhs and there were strong protests all over the state. The radical Sikhs almost seized the political scene of Punjab.
A private judicial commission was also set up under the chairmanship of Justice Markande Katju a retired judge of the Supreme Court who completed the enquiry in four days and indicted a number of senior police officers of the state and recommended action against them. However, the SAD BJP Government did not take any action on justice Katju's report. At the sametime, Justice Zora Singh Commission got three extensions but failed to submit a conclusive report. He failed to identify the culprits in the cases of sacrilege.

Markande Katju The SAD-BJP Government which was on its way out just did an eyewash act and took halfhearted action against some officials. The failure of the SAD-BJP government to take action against the culprits of sacrilege incidents resulted in the unrest among the Sikhs and there were strong protests at village Bargari and Behbal Kalan and there was a police firing too which resulted in the death of two sikh youth.

Parkash Singh Badal The situation in Punjab became so tense and complicated that Parkash Singh Badal who was the Chief Minister took the issue in his own hands from his son and first he ordered the removal of Sumedh Singh Saini, then DGP and appointed Suresh Arora in his place. Parkash Singh Badal also organized 'Sadhbhawna' rallies in Punjab to defure the situation. The radicals took advantage of the situation and organized 'Sarbat Khalsa' on November 10, 2015 at TarnTaran where hudge crowd of more than two lakh Sikhs gathered and passed resolution against the Akali Dal led government and the sikh high priests.
The SAD-BJP Government failed to nab the culprits and also did not take any action against the police official involved in the police firing. The state government further referred the cases of sacrilege to the CBI for enquiry and got rid of the responsibility of finding the culprits and punishing the police officials.
Captain Amarinder Singh on assuming the chief ministership of the state became aware of the sensitive issues of sacrielege of holy books of the Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims and is keen on establishing strong peace in the state.
Rejecting the report of the Zora Singh Commission, he has now appointed justice Ranjit Singh (Retd) as chairman of the new judicial commission. Justice Ranjit Singh who has served as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court is known for his integrity and fair judicial mindedness. He has given many remarkable judgements during his tenure as judge. He has been asked to give his report in six months. The CBI will continue to enquire into the cases of sacrilege and the new commission will work independently.
In a latest report of incidents of sacrilege in Punjab, the Punjab Police has prepared a comprehensive report and revealed that more than one hundred (100) cases of sacrilege took place in Punjab during the past two years – 2015 and 2016.

Only two incidents have taken place during the new regime of Amarinder Singh. The police have been able to identify culprits and suspects only in 50 cases sofar. The police report is critical of certain politicians and police officials that there were only few cases of sacrilege. The first incident took place in Burje Jawahar Singh wala in Faridkot district and later a series of incidents took place in mid October 2015 in Bargari village which led to massive protests. Subsequently two youth were killed in Behbal Kalan in police firing. The first incident and Bargari incident have remained unsolved, the report said.

In a latest report of incidents of sacrilege in Punjab, the Punjab Police has prepared a comprehensive report and revealed that more than one hundred (100) cases of sacrilege took place in Punjab during the past two years – 2015 and 2016.

The police report further mentions that the series of sacrilege incidents became motive issue for masses and it led to violence and a major reshuffle in the police as well. The previous SAD-BJP regime was criticized for its failure to solve these cases. Zora Singh Commission probed into a few main incidents around Faridkot. According to the police report, some sacrilege cases of the Gita and the Quran had also taken place in Punjab. Sukhpal Singh Khaira, chief whip of the AAM AADMI PARTY (AAP) has said that before appointing the new judicial commission the state government should have identified the culprits and registered FIR against them… and particularly the police officers involved in the firing and sacrilege incidents.

Suresh Kumar and Tejveer Singh The selection of officers to look after the affairs of the state administration by Amarinder Singh has been hailed by the people at large as they are much experienced and men of integrity and their dedication to the duty is unchallenged.
Chief Minister has appointed Suresh Kumar a retired senior officer of the Punjab as Chief Principal secretary and Tejveer Singh as principal secretary respectively.
Suresh Kumar has been allotted the key portfolios of home, jails, vigilance personnel, industry and commerce, investment promotion, finance and planning, information and public relations, administrative reforms and information technology, governance reforms and parliamentary affairs.
This writer had met Suresh Kumar for the first time in Ferozepur where he was serving as deputy commissioner during the militancy period.
Principal Secretary Tejveer Singh will deal with departments of power, housing, agriculture, education, health, local bodies, revenue, employment and defence services. Tejveer has also served as deputy commissioner of Patiala before his transfer to Centre