Punjab and Haryana High Court pulls up petitioner in Ranjit Singh encounter case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to the Punjab Government on a petition filed by Sukhjinder Kaur, mother of Ranjit Singh, who died in an alleged police encounter in Gurdaspur. She has sought a fair investigation and a CBI probe into the case.

Kaur has requested the court to constitute a special investigation team (SIT), comprising non-police officials, under a sitting or retired high court judge, to investigate the encounter. She claims that the border belt of Punjab has faced encounter issues since 1984.

The court has scheduled the next hearing for May 25. Kaur has also sought a second postmortem examination of Ranjit Singh’s body by a medical board from PGI Chandigarh.

During the hearing, the court noted that two police personnel were killed in the incident, and the case involves a grave crime with alleged police-criminal collaboration. Ranjit Singh was named by police in the murder of ASI Gurnam Singh and Home Guard Ashok Kumar at a joint check post in Adhian village, barely 2 km from the Pakistan border on February 22.

The high court has directed the DGP to file an affidavit explaining the circumstances of the incident. The DGP appeared before the bench via video conference and responded to the court’s queries.