Key witness in Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report goes back on statement

Ruchika M Khanna 
Tribune News Service 
Chandigarh, August 20 

Himmat Singh, a key witness in the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report and brother of Akal Takht head granthi Giani Gurmukh Singh, has gone back on his statement given to the commission.

Days before the report on sacrilege cases in Punjab is to be tabled in the Punjab Assembly, Himmat on Monday claimed that he was forced to sign the documents by Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) and Punjab Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, saying SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and party president Sukhbir Singh Badal had forced his brother, Giani Gurmukh Singh, the then Jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib, and other high priests to grant pardon to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

Talking to The Tribune here, Himmat, while claiming that he was in hiding for fear of physical harm from minister Randhawa, said he was not even allowed to read the statement attributed to him. “The statement was both in English and Punjabi. I cannot read English and the statement in Punjabi was not shown to me,” he claimed.

Himmat said he had been quoted in the report as saying that he was accompanying his brother Giani Gurmukh Singh when the high priests were summoned by the Badals at the Chief Minister’s residence in September 2015.

“I only read it in the newspapers that I was with my brother and had overheard the Badals telling him and other jathedars to grant pardon to Gurmeet Ram Rahim. I want to say that I had neither gone to meet the Badals nor to the SGPC office. I was pressed by Randhawa to come to Chandigarh and sign a totally baseless statement. Even Justice Ranjit Singh, who recorded my statement, told me not to disclose that they were trying to implicate the Badals and SAD in sacrilege cases. As a devout Sikh I am deeply hurt by the sacrilege incidents, but my conscience does not allow me to blame someone who is innocent,” he said.

Randhawa, when contacted, denied the allegation. “Himmat Singh has met me twice, along with one of my supporters Rupinder Singh, seeking a government job. Since he is just a matriculate he is not eligible for any job. Though I promised to help him, I don’t know why he is levelling these baseless allegations,” said the minister.

While Justice Ranjit Singh said Himmat Singh had approached the Commission on his own and submitted his duly-signed seven-page statement, which is attached with the report. “Why would I press him to make a particular statement? I did not even summon him and he had approached the commission on his own. The record of his statement typed in Punjabi is available. Maybe because Himmat Singh’s brother, Giani Gurmukh Singh, was recently reinstated by the SGPC, he has changed his statement,” said Justice Ranjit Singh.