M A I N   N E W S

Zaffarwal acquitted in 6th case
Declaration of ‘Khalistan’ from Takht
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 6
Terrorist Wassan Zingh Zaffarwal, self-styled chief of the “Khalistan” Commando Force who was allegedly responsible for hundreds of killings during militancy, could be a free man soon as the public prosecution failed to submit evidence leading to his acquittal in the sixth case, out of a total of eight cases registered against him.

He was today acquitted in the case pertaining to the declaration of “Khalistan” by a five-member panthic committee (Zaffarwal was one of the members) on April 29, 1986, from Akal Takht. The other members, Bhai Gurdev Singh Kaunke, Gurbachan Singh Manochahal, both former Akal Takht Jathedars, and Arur Singh and Dhanna Singh were killed in various encounters. A case under TADA, Sections 124-A, and 153-A, besides other. Sections of the IPC was registered against the committee members, including Zaffarwal, at the Kotwali police station.

After his acquittal in the court of Mr M.S. Chauhan, Zaffarwal claimed that all cases registered by the police were being proved “false” one by one as the public prosecution had failed to produce evidence against him.

Earlier, Zaffarwal was acquitted in a fresh case registered at the Rajasansi police station for entering India on “fake emergency certificates” issued in the name of Charnjit Singh on April 13, 2001. While Zaffarwal had claimed that he had never visited any country, the public prosecutor failed to produce any evidence in this regard.

Zaffarwal was acquitted in December in a case registered against him at the Dhariwal police station on May 6, 1986, for waging war and sedition. In this case, too, he was acquitted due to lack of evidence as the prosecution failed to prove that he was in Switzerland and Pakistan during the peak of militancy and issued diktats at the behest of the ISI.

Zaffarwal was also acquitted in a case registered against him at Batala on February 19, 1986, under various Sections of the IPC, including TADA.

He was acquitted in a sensational case registered against him on April 16, 1985, at the Dasuya police station (Hoshiarpur). Another acquittal was effected on November 22 last year in a case registered against him at the Mehta Chowk police station.

As per information, only two cases are pending against him which would come up for hearing this month itself. The hearing of one case has been fixed for March 12 while hearing in the sensational case regarding the attack on J.F. Ribeiro, the then DGP, on October 3, 1986, would come up for hearing on March 13.