Punjab Govt shielding Badals in Behbal Kalan firing case: Partap Singh Bajwa

Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa on Friday accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his government of “shielding” the Badals in the 2015 Behbal Kalan firing case.

Two persons protesting against the alleged desecration of religious texts in the state had died in the police firing. The incident took place when the SAD-BJP was in power in the state, with Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal occupying positions of the CM and Deputy CM, respectively.

Addressing media outside the Assembly, Bajwa questioned Bhagwant Mann’s intent and commitment to justice in the firing case.

“Despite tall promises and years of rhetoric, neither Parkash Singh Badal nor Sukhbir Singh Badal has ever been named in the FIR related to the police firing that led to the death of two Sikh men in Behbal Kalan,” he said. “Let it be known to the people of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann’s government has protected the real culprits of the police firing,” Bajwa said, demanding to know why no investigation report has been filed to date in the firing case.

Slamming the proposed Anti-Sacrilege Bill being brought in the current session, Bajwa called it a “political gimmick” and “fraud on the people of Punjab”.

He said the House had earlier passed a bill in 2018 that had been lying with the Centre for presidential assent for over seven years.

“This new bill is nothing but a diversionary tactic to cover up AAP’s abject failure to deliver justice. If Mann was serious, he would have pursued the existing bills and filed the investigation report against the guilty in the Behbal Kalan case,” he said.