Sacrilege Cases: Court allows Punjab Police to send Mohinder Pal Bittu’s letter for forensic examination
A Chandigarh court has allowed the Punjab Police to send a handwritten letter by Mohinder Pal Singh Bittu, a key accused in the sacrilege cases, to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Mohali for examination. The Nabha police filed the application, stating that Bittu wrote the letter while in jail in 2018, expressing his intention to record a confessional statement under Section 164 of the CrPC to the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Moga. His statement was recorded by the magistrate at that time.
The police said Bittu’s family members alleged that he wrote diaries before his death in Nabha jail in which he accused Punjab Police officers of torturing him. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing these allegations. In August 2022, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the state to form a new SIT, led by an Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), to investigate the allegations and Bittu’s murder.
Bittu’s wife filed a petition in the High Court, claiming that pages from diaries were recovered from the deceased’s clothes. She said that on June 22, 2019, the family was given dirty clothes of Mohinder Pal Singh, from which a diary was found. The diary revealed the alleged brutality and torture Bittu faced in jail at the hands of police officers, including senior officials.
She further alleged that Bittu was illegally taken into custody by the Punjab Police from Himachal Pradesh, detained, and forced to sign a disclosure statement and make a statement under Section 164 of the CrPC admitting involvement in the sacrilege cases registered in 2015. Bittu was allegedly killed by two inmates, Maninder Singh and Gursewak Singh, both serving life terms for murder, on June 22, 2019. The trial of the case is being held in the Sessions Court, Patiala.
Bittu was arrested following an FIR registered after rioting erupted in Moga in 2011, and 10 dera followers were named as accused in this case. His confessional statement was recorded for the sacrilege cases.
