Dual Constitution Row: SC reserves verdict in cheating case against Badals

New Delhi, April 11

Merely being religious does not mean a person cannot be secular, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.

The observation came from a Bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice CT Ravikumar which reserved its verdict on petitions filed by SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and his father Parkash Singh Badal against summons issued against them in an alleged forgery case.

Senior advocate KV Viswanathan, representing Parkash Singh Badal, said, “You respect your right of being religious, but you can also respect other people’s right to be religious. I can be religious and secular at the same time. How can this be a case of forgery and cheating? SAD got registered with Gurdwara Election Commission for management of gurdwaras where its constitution said only Sikhs will be its member and in the Election Commission a memorandum was submitted undertaking to abide by the Constitution and its Preamble.”

Viswanathan said Senior Badal was not even arrayed as an accused and amendment applications filed by the complainant were dismissed twice by the trial court. “The HC refused to quash the summons and said all these issues can be raised during trial,” he said, adding the opposite party had gone to the Election Commission seeking deregistration of SAD.