Akali Dal questions AAP govt over issue of Bandi Singhs

Amritsar, November 23

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state to immediately withdraw the adverse report submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court opposing the release of Sikh detenue Gurmeet Singh Engineer who has already spent 27 years in prison.

Addressing a press conference here, senior leader Virsa Singh Valtoha said it was shocking that the AAP government had opposed the release of Gurmeet Singh asserting that this would result in breach of peace in the country. “Even this report was submitted by the Patiala deputy commissioner after 13 reminders over a span of one year,” Valtoha added.

Asking CM Bhagwant Mann to explain why his government had taken a stand against the release of Bandi Singhs, Valtoha said, “Gurmeet Singh Engineer has availed parole since the last 10 years. There is no complaint pending against him. He has a record of good conduct. There is no ground to assert that his release would result in a breach of peace in the State.”

Asserting that the SAD would fight this injustice, Vatoha said, “Gurmeet Singh has been incarcerated in jail for 27 years and his case is a fit one for release.”

He also gave instance of four more Sikh detainees including Gurdeep Singh Khaira, Devenderpal Singh Bhullar, Lakhwinder Singh Lakha and Shamsher Singh Shera who he said had been given parole since the last five years and demanded that they should also be released along with Bhai Jagtar Singh Hawara, Bhai Jagtar Singh Tara and Paramjit Singh Bheora.

The SAD leader also demanded the immediate release of all Sikh detainees including Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana and Devinderpal Singh Bhullar.

He said while the Central government had first delayed filing its report in Bhai Rajoana’s case, it had now given an adverse report.

“Similarly, the AAP government in Delhi led by Arvind Kejriwal was not signing the release orders of Devinderpal Bhullar for the last eight months. This was being done despite the fact that the Union government had taken a decision to release all Sikh detenues serving life sentence on the 550th Parkash Purb of Sri Guru Nanak Dev in 2019 besides commuting the death sentence of Bhai Rajoana. Not releasing the detenues now amounts to violating their human rights,” he said.

The Akali leader also demanded that there should not be double standards in dealing with cases pertaining to the Sikh community and others.