CHANDIGARH: Former minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia today condemned the rejection of the premature release plea of Sikh detainee Prof Devinderpal Singh Bhullar by the Delhi Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and demanded the reasons for rejecting the plea be made public.
Addressing a press conference here, the SAD leader also asked the AAP government in Punjab and Bhagwant Mann to clarify why it was sitting on the SIT’s recommendation to register a case under Section 295-A against Gurmeet Ram Raheem for the last nearly two years.
Mr Bikram Majithia said “it is clear that Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann have teamed up to deny justice to Prof Devinderpal Bhullar who is incarcerated since 29 years even as they are not proceeding against Gurmeet Ram Raheem as they do not want to displease the latter on the eve of the Haryana assembly elections”. Demanding justice for Prof Devinderpal, the SAD leader said Punjabis had a right to know why the former’s premature release plea had been kept pending for the last five years and why it had been rejected now. “This amounts to violating the human rights of Prof Bhullar”, he added.
Asserting that AAP was always adopting double standards, Mr Majithia also demanded an independent probe into the manner in which a police clearance certificate was procured by Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sindhwan to avert the deportation of sodomy accused legislator Amarjit Singh Sandoa from Canada. He said Sandoa had been stopped by the Canadian airport authorities and questioned about a sodomy case for seven hours before he got a reprieve and was allowed to proceed to attend the marriage of AAP leader Himmat Singh Shergill. He said a police clearance certificate was issued in haste on a basis of an alleged compromise between the victim and the oppressor Sandoa despite clear cut Supreme Court guidelines that the police should get to the bottom of such heinous crimes unmindful of compromises.
Mr Majitha said sufficient proof was available in the medico legal report in the case which clearly proved that Sandoa had indulged in sodomy. “The compromise which was affected by Sandoa under pressure also indicts him and he should be proceeded against as per the apex court directions in such cases”.
The SAD leader also demanded a separate probe into the manner in which the Canadian government had been misled in the case by home minister Bhagwant Mann. “The manner in which the home minister has moved to give a clean chit to Sandoa in the case speaks about the morality Bhagwant Mann practices and is condemnable”. He demanded immediate withdrawal of the police clearance certificate and registration of a sodomy case against Sandoa. Mr Majitha said the SAD would also approach the Canadian embassy and appraise it of the entire facts of the case besides submitting the medico legal report in the case to the Embassy.