HC issues notice to CBI, state govt

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today put the state of Punjab and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on notice on a petition filed by a couple seeking a time-bound CBI probe under the court’s supervision into their 22-year-old son’s alleged fake encounter after being falsely implicated in a kidnapping case.

In their petition placed before Justice Sanjiv Berry’s Bench, petitioners Baljit Kaur and Lakhwinder Singh through counsel Navkiran Singh contended that their son Jaspreet Singh was a student living in Canada since October 2022. Recently married, he returned to India only days before he was killed in a police encounter on March 13 in the area under the jurisdiction of the Nabha police station.

According to the plea, Jaspreet was accused of kidnapping a seven-year-old child of a distant relative, leading to the registration of an FIR. It was claimed that a police party followed a white vehicle believed to be carrying the kidnapped child. Upon being signalled to stop, the vehicle allegedly sped away, leading to a chase and an encounter in which Jaspreet was shot and two police personnel were injured.

Navkiran Singh stated on the petitioners’ behalf that the post-mortem report dated March 14 revealed seven bullet injuries on Jaspreet’s body, including three with “tattooing” – a sign of close-range firing. One of the injuries, bearing tattooing, was located on the forehead, indicating the youth was shot at point-blank range.

The plea further alleged that the police officials involved were lauded by their superiors and reportedly rewarded with promotions and monetary incentives as per a news report, instead of being subjected to accountability. The petitioners submitted that they had no faith in a police-led inquiry, especially when the very force involved in the alleged staged encounter was in charge of the investigation.