Delay on Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar's release: Arvind Kejriwal faces protest in Amritsar

GS Paul

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Amritsar, January 30

AAP national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had to face mild protest in Amritsar, where he had scheduled a press conference along with party’s CM candidate Bhagwant Mann.

Several Sikh organisations, including some NRIs, reached the venue and staged protest against Kejriwal for adopting dilly-dallying tactics to facilitate premature release of Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar.

They tried to block Kejriwal’s cavalcade, but the police resisted them by parking their vehicles to pave safe passage for vehicles accompanying Kejriwal’s entourage.

Bhai Ranjit Singh from Canada, Jaswinder Singh Cheema from New York and Sarwan Singh Agwan from New Zealand stressed that though there were no legal hurdle in releasing Bhullar and other Sikh prisoners, the Delhi CM has been a stumbling block for political gains.

Ranjit Singh said he had met Bhullar’s wife Navneet Kaur, who was being tortured mentally as Prof Bhullar was not keeping good health.

“There is no law of land that when a person has underwent sentence for any crime, he could not be detained. He probably never wanted to disturb his Hindu vote bank for Delhi. But it was violation of human rights for which we have raised voice to facilitate Bhullar’s release,” he said.

Sarwan Singh Agwan said they were all supporters of AAP in 2017, but now have been opposing due to negative approach of Kejriwal towards Punjabis. “Bhagwant Mann had come to New Zealand seeking support during the last elections and we have been conducting their assemblies overseas and funding them regularly. Now, we have come here to oppose Kejriwal’s anti-Punjab attitude. He has been sitting on the files pertaining to Bhullar’s release and we will continue to stage protest against Kejriwal and AAP candidates wherever they go for campaigning,” he said.

Bhullar, a convict in 1993 Delhi bomb blast case, is undergoing life imprisonment after the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence. He was sentenced to death by a designated TADA court on August 25, 2001. He was shifted to Amritsar Central Jail in June 2015 and is facing serious health issues. On legal grounds, as the case pertains to the state of Delhi, it would be the prerogative of the chief executive of the Delhi Government, the CM, to sign his premature release order, before it is forwarded to the L-G for final approval.

Dharnas held in Tarn Taran as well

Tarn Taran: The Khalra Mission Organisation and Manukhi Adhikar Insaaf Sangharsh Committee (Human Rights Justice Struggle Committee) held a protest here on Sunday against blocking the release of Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar and other Sikh detainees lodged in Delhi jails. Baba Darshan Singh, advocate Jagdeep Singh Randhawa and other leaders of the Sikh organisations condemned Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for blocking the release of Bhullar and other Sikh detainees. They called Kejriwal as ‘Manuwadi’ and said no Manuwadi mediator can get people rid of corruption in Punjab except the ‘Kartapur Model’ (Baba Nanak’s message), which is the only solution of all ills of society. The leaders said Kejriwal was blocking the release of Bhulllar and other Sikhs detained in jails and said he was doing it just to appease the BJP and the RSS. The leaders alleged that Kejriwal was responsible for robbing river water and the electricity of Punjab and cheating Punjabis by organising Tiranga Yatra to teach Punjabis a lesson in nationalism. OC