‘Bandi Singhs’ issue to be decided as per law: NCM chief Iqbal Singh Lalpura

Amritsar, January 22

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) chief, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, said the cases of ‘Bandi Singhs’ (Sikh political prisoners) would be pursued in the court of law.

Lalpura, the Sikh face included in the BJP’s top decision-making panel, was here to participate in the two-day state executive body meeting of the saffron party.

When asked about the minorities’ long pending issue of the release of the ‘Bandi Singhs’, he refrained from commenting over it.

However, giving reference to the Rajoana’s case, he said, “Like Balwant Singh Rajoana’s case is pending with the Supreme Court, other ‘Bandi Singhs’ cases too are individual ones and will be decided only as per the law. It will not be appropriate to comment on them.”

Reacting over Lalpura’s statement, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said barring a few, majority of the cases could be resolved only with the intervention of the state government concerned where ‘Bandi Singhs’ were lodged behind the bars.

“If the Centre and the state governments concerned agree to it, the court will have no hassle in releasing the ‘Bandi Singhs’,” he said.

A delegation of the SGPC led by the then general secretary Karnail Singh Panjouli had met Lalpura in June last year and handed over a memorandum pertaining to the ‘panthic’ issues, including the release of ‘Bandi Singhs’.