Duty-bound to act on directions in drug case, Punjab tells HC

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 15

Describing as misconceived the allegations of inaction on reports submitted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the Punjab drug case, the government today said the same were handed over to the Punjab and Haryana High Court and not the state.

As the case came up for resumed hearing, the counsel placed before the Bench an affidavit stating, among other things, that the state was duty-bound to act in accordance with “the directions that may be passed by this court in connection with the reports submitted by the SIT”.

The affidavit by Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Litigation, Bureau of Investigation, Punjab, Sarabjit Singh, added that the High Court, in November 2017, directed the head of the Special Task Force, Harpreet Singh Sidhu, to investigate the role of Inspector Inderjit Singh and then Senior Superintendent of Police, Moga, Raj Jit Singh Hundal regarding drug trafficking in the state and submit a status report.

An application was then moved by Hundal stating that he was not likely to get a fair and impartial investigation at the hands of Sidhu on account of his alleged personal bias against him.

Without going into the veracity of the allegations, the High Court modified its earlier order to the extent that the allegations of complicity and close association of Hundal with Inderjit Singh emanating out of an FIR pertaining to drug trafficking would be investigated by a three-member special investigation team, comprising DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyaya and IPS officers Prabodh Kumar and Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh.

“It may be seen that the SIT submitted the reports directly to the court in pursuance of the developments on various dates as reflected in the orders dated February 1, 2018, March 15, 2018, and May 23, 2018, passed by the court. Ever since, the said reports have been lying in sealed covers in the custody of this court,” it was added.

The developments before the Bench of Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan took place a decade after the High Court took suo motu cognizance of the drug menace in Punjab.

The state was represented by Additional Advocate-General Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala, while intervener Lawyers for Human Rights International was represented by advocate Navkiran Singh.

He was seeking directions for opening the reports filed by the SIT. The Centre was represented in the matter by its senior counsel Arun Gosain.

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