Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court Friday dismissed all petitions filed by Punjab Police officials — most of them retired now – against the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report and directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Punjab Police to expeditiously probe the matter involving the sacrilege incidents of 2015 and killings of two civilians at Behbal Kalan.
The court said the grievance in the matter is of the general public and the SIT must not pay heed to the political overtones of the issue. The court further said the SIT is expected to do a fair and independent investigation and not also get swayed away by the observations made in the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report.
The court has upheld the report of the Commission but said its findings are inadmissible in the court of law and it is only to make up the mind of the State.
The petitioners before the court included former Moga SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma and former Mansa SSP Raghbir Singh Sandhu.
The Ranjit Singh Commission submitted its report last year to the government after which the government decided to form an SIT to probe the matter. The consent given to the CBI by the government in some related cases of sacrilege was also withdrawn by the Punjab government and handed over to the CBI.
On October 15, 2015, two persons – Krishan Bhagwan Singh and Gurjit Singh – had died in alleged police firing to break a dharna in Behbal Kalan. The dharna was staged by villagers to protest against alleged desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in Bargadi village of Faridkot.