Amritsar, Punjab (September 18, 2013): Putting question mark over the recent arrests of around 20 teenaged youths within the span of 2 weeks, the Dal Khalsa has blamed the Punjab Police for ‘manipulating the arrests’ to dilute the case of Bhai Jaspal Singh Gurdaspur, who died on March 29 last year after he was hit by a bullet fired by policemen in Gurdaspur.
Skeptical over the arrest spree, H. S. Dhami pin pointed the timing of busting of these new militant modules. The circumstantial evidence signals that there are more to it than meet the eyes.
Narrating the sequence, he said, “it’s noteworthy that the Punjab and Haryana high court on September 2 summoned the Punjab chief secretary and director general of police to be personally present in the court on September 10 after the state counsel failed to file the status report in the case of Jaspal Singh”.
Exactly four days after the court reprimanded the state police for its inaction, on Sep 6, Fatehgarh Sahib police announced that it had busted a terror module by arresting 7 youngsters, who were planning to kill Shiv Sena leader to avenge the murder of a Sikh youth (read Jaspal Singh) of Gurdaspur district.
A week later, the Gurdaspur police claims to unearth another “terror module” with the arrest 3 persons including Sukhjinder Singh, the close relative of deceased Bhai Jaspal Singh Gurdaspur under the same charges/allegations.
H. S. Dhami said “the reported statement of Guria village’s panchayat and parents of arrested youth has strongly refuted the police claim”.
To instill fear psychosis in the minds of youth in general and family members of Bhai Jaspal Singh in particular, his close relative has been framed, Dhami alleged.
He said it looks the police wants to coerce Jaspal Singh’s family “not to pursue the case in the court”. “The police is hell bent to show Bhai Jaspal Singh in poor light so as to dilute his murder case and shield his killers”, he alleged.
Dal Khalsa leader took a dig at Home Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for showering praises on Punjab Police, whose style of functioning has always been under suspicion. Condemning the misuse of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, he said the free-run given by the ruling party to the police has created a scare in Punjab.