Sikh Siyasat News (in English) » CBI

SCI’s decision would impose blind impunity zone in Punjab: SSF

Baljeet Singh — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:31:48 +0000

Patiala (December 08, 2011): Sikh Students Federation has raised it’s grave concern over Supreme Court of India’s decision in the case of enforced disappearance of three relatives of Professor Devender Pal Singh Bhullar and has term the decision as most unfortunate. Supreme Court yesterday set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court order directing CBI inquiry into the matter, on mere ethical ground that High Court judge ordering the inquiry had certain reason for prejudice against one of the accused police officer.

The Supreme court judges did not even bother to take notice of CBI investigation recommending chargesheet and trial against the accused police officers, and wide impunity enjoyed by the guilty police officers over last two decades, said Parmjeet Singh Gazi, President of Sikh Students Federation, in statement posted on website of the Organization today.

It is notable that investigation conducted by CBI had revealed that high rank police officers, including Punjab vigilance chief Sumedh Saini, were involved in enforced disappearance of father, uncle and friend of Professor Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, in 1991.

Gazi said that widespread and systematic practise of enforced disappearance and secret killings was integral part of policing policy in Punjab during 1980s-90s. There are thousands of such cases, which were never investigated, and impunity level in Punjab is very high.

“The supreme court’s decision would further contribute in imposing blind impunity zone in Punjab, thus it is unfortunate.” he added.

Two decades of impunity: SCI set aside CBI probe against police officers accused of practising enforced disappearances

Parmjit Singh — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:27:04 +0000

New Delhi, India (December 07, 2011): The Supreme Court of India today quashed a Punjab and Haryana High Court order directing the CBI to investigate the enforced disappearance of three innocent Sikhs, including son of a former IAS officer and the father and uncle of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, in 1991.

A division bench of Justices B. S. Chauhan and A. K. Patnaik termed the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s single judge bench’s order as “erroneous”.

“It said the order directing the CBI probe caused greater injustice than the apparent attempt to dispense justice” Indian media sections, including Times of India (TOI), have reported the SC judges to have said.

Writing the judgement for the bench, Justice Chauhan said the HC order was an example of judicial inconsistency and allowed the appeals filed by the Punjab government and Sumedh Saini, who pleaded that there was apparent bias and perceivable ulterior motive behind the judgement directing the CBI probe against the much decorated police officer. The SC quashed the CBI FIR and brought to naught the probe done so far.

It is notable here that appellants had challenged the HC order directing CBI probe, but not the content and conclusions of probe conducted by CBI, still the judges of SCI failed to take notice of two decades old case of enforced disappearance of three persons, two of whom were Government’s Gazetted officers. However, the court said ‘the complainants were at liberty to initiate appropriate proceedings’ before prescribed forums.

Earlier, the Punjab government, led by Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and BJP, had argued before the court that “the state has in its possession some material that would suggest that the senior officer is being targeted due to the sensitive nature of investigation conducted by him against the judge”. It had submitted sealed envelopes to the court indicating that they contained the report of the investigation conducted by Saini when the concerned judge was still an advocate, TOI report added.

Following the investigation and clearance by the High Court the CBI registered had registered a criminal case against Sumedh Saini, chief of vigilance bureau of Punjab and some other police officers, including Chandigarh’s former SP (Operations) Baldev Singh Saini and SI Harshay Sharma and Jagir Singh, on July 4, 2008 the killing trio during enforced disappearance in 1991.

Professor Devender Pal Singh Bhullar is facing threat of execution in India as he was convicted on sole basis of statement extracted after torture in police custody. Supreme Court of India had confirmed the death sentence in a “split judgement”, with Presiding judge of three judges bench acquitting Professor Bhullar while two others confirming his death sentence.

Sikh Genocide 1984: Sajjan Kumar provoked mob to kill my father, deposed Nirpreet Kaur

Daljeet Singh — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:01:45 +0000

Nirpreet Kaur, A Key Witness in Sikh Genocide 1984 Related Case against Sajjan Kumar

New Delhi (January 06, 2010): A woman witness today identified senior Indian leader Sajjan Kumar, belonging to the ruling Congress Party, and others before a Delhi court and related how her father was killed by a mob in the 1984 Sikh massacre following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Nirpreet Kaur deposed how accused Balwan Khokhar and Mahender Yadav took her father on a scooter and later burnt him to death after taking a match box from a policeman, besides testifying how she herself faced harassment.

“The mob caught hold of my father, Ishwar Sharabi sprinkled kerosene oil over him… Inspector Kaushik gave a match box which was taken by Kishan who set on fire my father. The mob had gone a little ahead and my father jumped into a drain. When the mob saw that my father was alive they returned. Dhanraj gave ropes from his shop. Captain Bhagmal tied my father with ropes to a telephone pole. And my father was again set on fire,” the 42-year-old witness told Additional Sessions Judge Sunita Gupta.

Kaur recounted how her father again jumped into the drain but the mob again came and hit him with rods. The witness also deposed how she saw Sajjan Kumar addressing a mob and allegedly provoking it to attack and kill the Sikh.

Kaur alleged Sajjan was saying: “No Sardar (Sikh) should be left alive. All their remaining houses should be burnt down. Kill all Sikhs as they have killed my mother,” She recorded in her statement how she was allegedly harassed by different security agencies since she was a witness to the killing of her father as a 16-year-old girl. She also told the court that she was booked in three different TADA cases – two in Delhi and one in Punjab.

“I was anguished injustice was being done to Sikhs and nobody was coming to their help. I joined the Sikh Student Federation. In 1984, I was 16. At that time, I was a student. After I joined the Sikhs Student Federation, I was involved in two false cases of TADA. I remained in jail for many years. In one case, I was acquitted while in another case, I was discharged. In Punjab too, I was implicated in a case pertaining to TADA. In that case too, I was discharged,” the witness said.

She also alleged before the court that during the hearing in the present case, she came to know about the “collusion” between police officials and the accused, resulting in the acquittal of the offenders in the murder of her father Nirmal Singh who ran a run transport service.

Kaur identified five accused Sajjan, Balwan, Kishan, Mahender and Captain Bhagmal who are facing a trial in the killings of six people at Delhi Cant during the 1984 Sikh Massacre. She completed her statement as a prosecution witness and will be cross-examined on January 11 in the trial relating to the killing of six persons in Delhi Cantt during the riots.

Earlier, witness Jagsher Singh had identified in court Sajjan as the one who had allegedly provoked the mob to kill his brothers during the carnage. He is a cousin of complainant Jagdish Kaur whose husband Kehar Singh and one son were also killed during the massacre.

Nirpreet Kaur had also on July 3 identified Sajjan and Khokkar and other accused Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal as accomplices who had allegedly instigated mobs during the 1984 carnage.

The accused persons are escaping the trial by using their positions, and successive governments of India have failed to secure justice for the victims of the massacre, remembered by the Sikhs as the “Sikh Genocide 1984”.

The CBI, India’s premier investigative agency, had filed two charge-sheets against Kumar and others on January 13 last in the 1984 Sikh massacre cases registered in 2005 on the recommendation of the G. T. Nanavati Commission.

It is notable that Sajjan Kumar, was close associate of Rajiv Gandhi, son of late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and had succeeded her to power. Rajiv is know for equating the events that resulted in murder of abound then thousand Sikhs, with shakes caused by the fall of a mighty tree. Sajjan Kumar was allotted a MP’s ticket by the Congress Party during Parliamentary elections in 2007. The ticket was withdrawn by the Congress after a Sikh journalist, Jarnail Singh, symbolically expressed the anguish of the entire Sikh nation by throwing a shoe towards the then Indian Home Minister, P. Chitembrem.

Sikh Genocide 1984: Eye-witness Jagdish Kaur deposed against Sajjan Kumar

Tejashdeep Singh — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:11:55 +0000

New Delhi (July 07, 2010): Jagdish Kaur, a witness in the Delhi Cantonment case, during her two hour long cross examination in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Sunita Gupta told the court that during November 1984 Sikh massacre, the mob armed with iron rod, digging tools and other lethal weapons first pounced upon her son and caused injuries to him and then upon her husband virtually crushed her husband’s head and dragged him to the room where he dropped dead. She further stated that her son ran for some distance in the street, where he was attacked by the mob again, and then the mob set him on fire.

On July 3, 2010, Jagdish Kaur, during her cross examination in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Sunita Gupta identified Sajjan Kumar as a person instigating the mob during the massacre. Court had already framed charges against Sajjan Kumar in the case registered at Delhi Cantonment in connection with the murder of seven persons.

On July 7, 2010, the court recorded the statement of witness, Lal Chand Khemani. The recording of statement of other witnesses in Delhi Cantonment case will continue tomorrow.

On July 7, 2010, a Delhi Court finally framed charges against Congress Leader Sajjan Kumar for his role in killing of Sikhs during the November 1984 Sikh Genocide. The charges were framed under Murder; Looting, Dacoity and Robbery and Spreading enmity between communities.

This case relates to killing of seven Sikhs in Sultanpuri, North-West Delhi by a mob led by Sajjan Kumar and other accused during the November 1984 Sikh Genocide. Additional Sessions Judge Sunita Gupta allowed CBI’s plea seeking prosecution of Sajjan Kumar under various sections of Indian Penal Code after finding prima facie evidence against him. Besides Sajjan Kumar, the other accused in the case are Balwan Khokhar, Mahender Yadav, Maha Singh, Capt Bhagmal, Santosh Rani, Girdhari Lal and Krishna Khokhar.

The court further decided to record statements of witnesses from August 23, 2010, commencing the trial.

In January 2010, CBI filed these two charge sheets, one pertaining to killing of seven Sikhs in Sultanpuri, North-West Delhi and other pertaining to killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment during the November 1984 massacre of Sikhs against Congress Leader Sajjan Kumar. As per the charge sheet filed by the CBI, during the November 1984 massacre of Sikhs, Sajjan Kumar ordered local police officials to fire at Sikhs because of which three Sikhs were killed at Sultanpuri, Delhi. CBI also alleged that Sajjan Kumar instigated the mobs to burn Sikhs alive and he in collusion with one Bhatia, SHO Sultanpuri police station and other police officers led the mob. The CBI stated that the statements recorded by all the eyewitnesses are reliable and there are no contradictions.

Senior counsel H.S. Phoolka, representing the victims stated that finally, a ray of hope for the victims can be seen.

Gurpatwant S Pannun, Legal Advisor of Sikhs for Justice stated that this is an important development and he is hopeful that the perpetrators of the November 1984 Sikh Genocide will be punished.

AISSF President Karnail Singh Peermohammed stated that though delayed, he is hopeful that justice will be done. He stated that the wounds of the Sikh community will be healed only after the killers of the Sikhs are punished by law.

On July 7, 2010, the court recorded the statement of witness, Lal Chand Khemani. The recording of statement of other witnesses in Delhi Cantonment case will continue tomorrow.

The court further decided to record statements of witnesses from August 23, 2010, commencing the trial.

Senior counsel H.S. Phoolka, representing the victims stated that finally, a ray of hope for the victims can be seen.

Gurpatwant S Pannun, Legal Advisor of Sikhs for Justice stated that this is an important development and he is hopeful that the perpetrators of the November 1984 Sikh Genocide will be punished.

Canadian Government has taken the right decision to rejecting the Visa Applications

editor — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:30:19 +0000

Few Days back a local court of Bihar acquitted all 27 accused involved in anti-Sikh roits of 1984 in the absence of witnesses against them. It is a big shame for Indian Police as well for Indian Courts. It is a gift which they have given us on the 26th anniversery of Operation Blue Star the cowardest act ever done by the Indian Forces and Indian Government.

This so called Police Force which is unable to produce a single witness in Court in daily life can beat a small thief to death. They can give third degree torture to a minor child who had stolen a piece of bread from the shop. These police forces can pull a child after binding him on the back side of their motorcycle in the full market. If they can torture this kind of poor people for minor issues then why can’t they interrogate the roit accused in the same manner. If they are under some Political Pressure then why they wear the uniform of Police. Just leave the Police Force and become a toilet cleaner in the houses of Ministers who stopped you in the interrogation of such criminals.

I want to make an offer to C.B.I. & Police Force that if you people are unable to interrogate the dearer sons of the Delhi Government including Sajjan Kumar & Jagdish Tytler from last 26 years then please hand them over to us for just 2 hours. I promise to keep them alive for these 2 hours. After the 2 hour interrogation done by us they themself will accept what they had done in 1984.

Canadian Government has taken the right decision to rejecting the Visa Applications of the employes of defence forces of India. They deserve the rejection.

–

Sukhdeep Singh

Footprints of Hindu Terror: RSS members behind Ajmer and Hyderabad blasts

Parmjit Singh — Sun, 16 May 2010 04:21:21 +0000

New Delhi(May 16, 2010): As per an IBN-CNN story posted on its website on 14 May, 2010 two members of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) – Devender Gupta and Chandrashekhar Barod – have emerged as the prime suspects in the Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid and Ajmer blasts. As links between the two blasts become clearer the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is increasingly looking at involvement of Hindu terror groups.

Ibrahim Junaid and 25 others had spent upto two years in police custody on suspicion of carrying out the Mecca Masjid blast.

“I was beaten up continuously for five days. I was given third degree torture. I was beaten by a rubber belt on my sole and given electric shocks,” recounts Junaid describing the police torture.

Junaid now stands vindicated, as the CBI is linking the Ajmer and Hyderabad blasts.

“There is a link between the Ajmer Sharif blast and the Mecca Masjid Hyderabad blast,” CBI Director Ashwini Kumar says.

Both blasts took place on a Friday right after the namaz (prayers). Both used low intensity explosives, kept in tin boxes with iron pipes folded around them. Cellphones were used to trigger both explosions; using SIM cards bought with the same fake identity and Telugu newspapers were used in both cases to wrap the bombs.

But focus has shifted away from groups like Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HuJI) or Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Gupta and Barod, both members of the RSS, are now key suspects in the two blasts.

Gupta, now a resident of Jharkhand, but originally from Ajmer in Rajasthan is believed to have procured the fake identity card of Babulal Yadav from Ranchi, which helped Barod to buy the SIM cards that were used to trigger both the blasts.

Investigators say the names of Gupta and Barod came up during the narco-analysis of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Srikant Purohit during the Malegaon blast investigation.

The name of Sunil Joshi, an RSS member from Madhya Pradesh, who died in December 2007 also cropped up.

The Rajasthan Home Minister, Shanti Dhariwal, confirmed the links to The Hindu newspaper saying, “Colonel Purohit, arrested for Malegaon blast, has confessed that Sunil Joshi had organised the Dargah operation with the help of Gupta.”

Investigators are now looking for the man who helped Gupta and Barod carry out the Ajmar and Hyderabad blasts, believed to be Aseemanand, a swami involved in reconversion of tribal Christians to Hinduism in Gujarat’s Dangs district.

Aseemanand is believed to be in hiding in the Dangs with the Rajasthan anti-terror squad searching for him.

But evidence against Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Purohit, the alleged masterminds of the countrywide Hindu terror operation, is very thin.

Lt Col Purohit was accused of procuring RDX used in the Malegaon blast from the army inventory.

New Delhi (May 14, 2010): As per an IBN-CNN story posted on its website on 14 May, 2010 two members of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) – Devender Gupta and Chandrashekhar Barod – have emerged as the prime suspects in the Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid and Ajmer blasts. As links between the two blasts become clearer the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is increasingly looking at involvement of Hindu terror groups.