Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today asserted the murderers of Shaheed Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra were convicted only after the S Parkash Singh Badal government took over the reins of Punjab in 1997 and facilitated the sole witness in the case - SPO Kuldeep Singh Bachra to give his statement after giving him police protection resulting in prison sentences to the accused police officers.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr Sukhbir Badal said a deliberate misinformation campaign had been initiated to defame the party in the case when the truth was that it was the SAD which had created the conditions for the conviction of Bhai Jaswant Singh Khalra’s murderers.
“The sole witness – Bachra did not come forward to record his statement during Congress rule due to intense pressure from both the political and police administration. However when the SAD government supported him and the Shiromani Committee gave him legal and financial support he mustered the courage to record his statement in court. He also disclosed that Bachra’s family was also given a job by the SGPC.
Giving the facts in the case, Mr Badal said “Bhai Khalra was the president of the SAD’s human rights wing. He unearthed the manner in which the Beant Singh government was presiding over the killing of thousands of Sikh youth by cremating them as unclaimed bodies after eliminating them in fake encounters.
Since his visits to hospitals and cremation grounds in this connection were not to the liking of the Congress government, he was abducted and eliminated”.Asserting that the SAD had raised the issue of Bhai Khalra’s abduction immediately, the SAD president said “the SGPC wrote to the President and the Supreme Court while then party leader Manpreet Singh Badal raised the issue in the Vidhan Sabha.
The Supreme Court treated the SGPC’s representation as a habeas corpus and directed the CBI to probe the case leading to the arrest of the accused police officers”.In stark contrast, Mr Badal said the erstwhile Congress and the present AAP government had tried their best to free the murderers of Bhai Khalra and had even succeeded in this goal.
The leader said in 2017 the Congress government facilitated the release of the convicts through an application which even painted them as ones who had fought against terrorism. He said when this failed former home minister Sukhjinder Randhawa had also forwarded their case for release.
“During AAP rule the government realized the application was being constantly opposed by the CBI. The AAP government changed its strategy and took advantage of a judgement which stated that in case no decision was taken on the premature release application of accused DSP Jaspal Singh, the latter could be given bail.
Since the AAP government deliberately did not take a decision on the application for two years, Bhai Khalra’s killer was released in 2023 within days of applying for premature release.” He said similarly SHO Satnam Singh was given parole by the Congress government in 2021 and disappeared following which during the AAP government’s tenure in 2022 his counsel submitted in the high court that the State was supporting his release.
The SAD president also debunked the AAP lie that he had ever tried to stop the release of the movie Satluj. He presented the tweet he had written in 2023 against the ban being put on the movie besides calling for its release without any censorship.In a forceful assertion, Mr Badal also made it clear that no Akali worker had ever been accused of indulging in any act of sacrilege.
He said in sharp contrast sacrilege cases started occurring in Punjab when AAP entered into the State in 2014 following which its legislator Naresh Yadav was even convicted in a sacrilege case in Malerkotla. “The AAP government tried its best to save Yadav and even misused the district administration for this purpose but the judge remained firm and convicted the AAP legislator”.
Mr Badal also spoke on how the Congress and AAP were ganging up against the SAD. “Punjabis should never trust the Congress party which attacked Sri Darbar Sahib with tanks and mortars and committed genocide against the Sikh community”. He said similarly Bhagwant Mann should be shunned for attacking the Sikh ‘quom’ and asserting that Sri Akal Takht Sahib was wrong and that he was right”.