10 years on, justice awaited in Punjab sacrilege cases
Bathinda: Come Sunday, Punjab will mark 10 years since June 1, 2015, when the bir of Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from a gurdwara in Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village near Bargari, Faridkot, and which eventually led to the sacrilege of the Sikh scripture later in Oct that year, triggering a turmoil in panthic politics.
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With justice still awaited in the sacrilege cases of Oct 2015 and police firing upon protesters later, Sikh organisations have decided to mark the day by holding a protest march from Gurdwara Burj Jawahar Singh Wala to the light point intersection of Kotkapura, where police took action against protesters in the early hours of Oct 14, 2015.
Thr groups accuse successive govts of the state by using the emotional issue of sacrilege and the subsequent killing of two protesters for political gains, but failing to deliver justice.
Investigations into the case are yet to reach a conclsuive end in the courts. A Punjab Police special investigations team (SIT), headed by retired DIG Ranbir Singh Khatra, claimed to have cracked the case, but it did not result inany convictions.
Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim was also named in the cases and in the chargesheets filed by the police in three interrelated sacrilege cases, but no headway was made.
Sikh organisations have only angered after cases were transferred to courts in Chandigarh. "Justice being elusive makes us think that Sikhs are treated differently even in Punjab, where we are in majority," said Behbal Kalan police firing victim Krishan Bhagwan Singh's son, Sukhraj Singh, who held a long protest for justice.
Even though the he was named in sacrilege cases and his sect's member Pardeep Kler was arrested on Feb 9, 2024, Ram Rahim and his adopted daughter, Honeypreet, were not brought to Punjab for investigation. "This points to the non-seriousness of the govts in delivering justice," said Sukhraj. "It seems even a decade is not enough to provide justice, especially when the entire Sikh Panth is demanding it. Right from Shiromani Akali Dal to Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, all played with the sentiments of Sikhs and looked only into electoral gains but failed when it came to delivering justice," said Gurdeep Singh Bathinda, who was associated with the cases from the beginning.
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