Transfer of Behbal Kalan police firing case to may pose legal hurdles in Kotkapura trial
The transfer of the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing case from Faridkot to Chandigarh may pose a legal hurdle ahead of trial in the Kotkapura firing case
Faridkot : The transfer of the 2015 Behbal Kalan police firing case from Faridkot to Chandigarh may pose a legal hurdle ahead of trial in the Kotkapura firing case.
Disposing of a petition in August 2022, the Punjab and Haryana high court had ordered that “the prosecution shall submit a report of further investigation to the trial court at the earliest. The trial court shall proceed to take all these (2015 Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firing) cases simultaneously on the same day and decide the same in accordance with the law”.
Following this, the state government had filed an application seeking clarification over direction to hold a simultaneous hearing in both the firing cases. The HC dismissed the application of the state seeking clarification saying: “It was a clear order”.
Following this, additional sessions judge, Faridkot, kept the proceedings on hold in the Behbal Kalan firing case till the SIT probing the Kotkapura firing case files a chargesheet.
An advocate familiar with the development said the proceedings in the Behbal Kalan case remained standstill for more than a year due to the HC order directing to hold proceedings in both the inter-linked police firing cases simultaneously. The delay in filing of chargesheet by the SIT in the Kotkapura firing case was the reason the trial was on hold. Now, the Behbal Kalan firing case has been moved to Chandigarh but the Kotkapura firing case is still in Faridkot. The accused may use this order to get the Kotkapura firing case transferred to Chandigarh as well,” the advocate added.
On October 14, 2015, police opened fire at people protesting at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan against a sacrilege incident that had taken place at Bargari in Faridkot district. While two Sikh protesters were killed in Behbal Kalan, several were injured in Kotkapura.
In April 2021, the high court quashed the findings in the Kotkapura case filed by SIT member and then IGP Kunwar Vijay Pratap, now an AAP MLA. On the HC directions, the state government formed a new three-member SIT headed by ADGP LK Yadav to probe the Kotkapura firing case and reconstituted SIT probing Behbal Kalan case appointing ADGP Naunihal Singh as head on May 2021.
SIT led by ADGP Yadav filed a chargesheet against former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and former deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and six police officers, including ex-DGP Saini in the Kotkapura firing case in February 2023. On April 25, 2023, Yadav-led SIT filed a supplementary chargesheet paving the way for the trial to start.
Meanwhile, Naunihal-led SIT has not filed any supplementary chargesheet.