Punjab seeks revocation of bail to ex-DGP Sumedh Saini

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 16

More than two months after Punjab’s former Director-General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini was granted anticipatory bail by a Mohali court in a 1991 abduction case, the state government today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking its cancellation on more than 26 grounds.

Among other things, the state in its 199-page petition submitted that the Mohali court committed a grave error of law in exercising its discretionary jurisdiction and granting anticipatory bail without even considering the heinousness and seriousness of the crime.

It was added that the impugned order interfered with and proscribed a proper and truthful investigation into “heinous and serious crimes committed by police officers holding the highest levels of office on an unarmed and hapless victim, who was in their custody all throughout”.

The case registered against Saini and other policemen at Mataur police station in Mohali pertains to alleged abduction and disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani. As of now, the case has been received by the High Court’s filing branch and is likely to come up for hearing next week.

The petition added that the seriousness and heinous nature of the crime was further aggravated by the fact that high-ranking police officers such as the present accused caused manipulation of the official records in an attempt to show the incident as a police encounter.

“The fact that this was sought to be done by falsifying records and to somehow show that the victim was encountered while escaping custody deserves strict notice, especially when material on record clearly reveals that it was a premeditated murder of the victim while he was in custody of the accused,” the petition further added.

Referring to the statement of “eyewitness” advocate Gursharan Kaur Mann, the state submitted that an eyewitness account of illegal detention and inhuman torture of Multani by the respondent was clearly set out.

The eyewitness categorically described the physical condition of Multani. The court erred in ignoring the account of the eyewitness, who was a practicing lawyer and also a victim of the atrocities, it added.

No bail under Section 302 of IPC

• Former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini had filed a petition seeking anticipatory bail under Section 302 of the IPC
• Although a Mohali court granted him interim bail, the case was transferred to another ourt on an application moved by the complainant through special public prosecutor Sartej Singh Narula
• His plea was dismissed on July 10 as premature after the state informed the court that Section 302 had not been added so far

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.