AAP MLA raises questions over SIT probe into 2015 Kotkapura police firing

AAP MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh on Monday raised questions over the Special Investigation Team probe into the 2015 Kotkapura police firing and claimed that it will not ensure justice.

Singh's remark comes days after the Punjab Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed a chargesheet in a Faridkot court, naming then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal among others.

The SIT, led by Additional Director General of Police LK Yadav, was formed by Amarinder Singh when he was chief minister.

The incidents relate to the theft of a 'bir' (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib, putting up handwritten sacrilegious posters, and torn pages of the holy book being found scattered at Bargari in Faridkot in 2015.

It triggered protests and two persons -- Gurjeet Singh and Kishan Bhagwan Singh -- were killed in Behbal Kalan and few injured at Kotkapura in Faridkot in police firing.

A SIT led by Inspector General of Police Naunihal Singh is investigating the Behbal Kalan firing.

Participating in the discussion on the Governor's Address on the second day of the Punjab Assembly's Budget session, Singh, the AAP's Amritsar (North) MLA, said the SIT formed by Amarinder Singh is working according to the brief given at that time. It will not ensure justice. If justice is not delivered, the matter will remain alive in Punjab and the country for 200 years.

Serious steps should be taken in this regard and one should not depend on the SIT, said Singh, a former IPS officer who joined the AAP after taking premature retirement from service.

On filling of the chargesheet, Singh said he was satisfied that the challan has been filed.

Participating in the discussion earlier, Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa told Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann that he has a golden opportunity to showcase Punjab during the G20 meeting later this month.

Without naming radical preacher and 'Waris Punjab De' chief Amritpal Singh, Bajwa warned that nobody will allow it if he and his supporters try to create an atmosphere of fear.

Pointing to last month's Ajnala incident, the leader of opposition said the police station was ''captured'' and the senior superintendent of police of Amritsar Rural surrounded.

''We need to be careful,'' he said.

Bajwa also took exception to the state government's decision to seek paramilitary force. AAP MLA Jagroop Singh Gill, while speaking on the Governor's Address, lauded his party's government for police action against gangsters in the last one year and alleged that previous regimes had patronised criminals. Jeevan Jyot Kaur, another AAP MLA, praised the ruling dispensation for fulfilling the promise of providing 300 units of free electricity per month, opening 500 'Aam Aadmi Clinics' and also giving nearly 27,000 government jobs in the last one year.