Proceedings resume after year-long delay in Kotkapura police firing case

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) in Faridkot has ordered the resumption of proceedings in the 2015 Kotkapura police firing case, which had been stalled for over a year. The case will now move forward with the next hearing scheduled for February 3, where charges against the accused will be deliberated.

The delay was caused by former SSP Charanjit Sharma’s petition to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking the transfer of the trial from Faridkot to Chandigarh due to security concerns. Although the high court had transferred a related case, the Behbal Kalan police firing case of 2015, to Chandigarh, it did not provide explicit directives regarding the Kotkapura case’s transfer. As a result, the ADSJ court in Faridkot decided that proceedings could not remain in abeyance any longer.

The high court, in its August 2022 order, had stated that both the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing cases should proceed simultaneously.

The accused in the case include former deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and several senior police officers.