9 years on, HC revives hearing in suo motu Jat stir violence case

Nearly a decade after taking suo motu cognisance of reports published in these columns on alleged lawlessness during the Jat agitation, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today virtually revived the matter by calling for a fresh status report on developments over the past six to seven years. The Bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu issued the direction after being informed that several issues raised earlier might have turned infructuous with the passage of time.

As the matter came up for resumed hearing, amicus curiae and senior advocate Anupam Gupta told the Bench that the high court had in August 2018 narrowed down the entire gamut of the case to four parts. “Due to the passage of time, a lot many issues and disputes may have become infructuous.”

The issues framed by the court then included monitoring of probe under senior IPS officer Amitabh Dhillon into cases of violence; to decide whether a CBI probe was required into alleged rape in Murthal; monitoring investigation by the premier investigating agency into Moonak canal breach case; and to decide on the government’s move to withdraw some cases against the agitators. The Bench had then also directed senior advocate Gupta to submit a complete summary of the issues for better understanding of the matter.

Taking a note of the submissions, the Bench asked the state counsel to “file synopsis of the present status of the developments that have taken place during the last six-seven years with regard to the issues”. The synopsis was directed to be vetted by Gupta before its submission.

The high court – among other things – had then taken cognisance of alleged sexual assault on women in the fields of Murthal by 30-odd goons during the agitation. The Bench during the course of hearing was then told that Munak canal was breached during the stir, affecting water supply to Delhi. It was also told that as many as 2015 cases were registered by the police in 21 districts across the state after extensive violence broke, but there was an attempt by the government to withdraw some of the matters.