In quirk fate of destiny, made possible by the perseverance of a victim family and their lawyer, the man who published posters of Sikh freedom-fighters and got them posted on the walls of the Inter-State Bus Terminal in Delhi, the New Delhi Railway station and the Delhi Airport, now faces the ignominy of his own poster adorning the walls of Amritsar by Sikh bodies. There are posters galore on social media calling for his arrest and the Punjab Police is hounding him at his known and lesser-known hideouts in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. Sikh bodies and activists are giving it back to him and the Punjab Police in the same coin. Today, 12 September 2020, the Judicial Magistrate of Mohali has issued non-bailable arrest warrants of the accused Sumedh Singh Saini. Social activist lawyers have written letters seeking red-corner notices so that he does not leave the country.

TAKING A LEAF OUT OF THE BOOK OF SIMON WISENTHALL AND THE NUREMBERG TRIALS, the family of Balwant Singh Multani who was extrajudicially killed 29 years ago, and their lawyer Pradeep Singh Virk have done great service to the cause of justice in consistently persuading the case for three decades and more against all odds.

Judicial Magistrate Ravtesh Inderjit Singh in the case of State Vs. Sumedh Saini. FIR No. 77 date 06.05.2020. Police Station Mattaur, acknowledged the prosecution plea that there is “no stay regarding the arrest of accused Sumedh Saini in the present FIR and anticipatory bail application moved by accused before Hon’ble High Court has already been dismissed.”

The duty magistrate also took cognisance of the fact that the DDRs of various police stations at Hauz Khas, Delhi, Shimla Sadar, Chownki Pangana, HP, Police Station North and Sector 19, Chandigarh, and Police Station Tanda, Punjab could not be executed for lack of arrest warrants.

Hence the court concluded that “Therefore, the application in hand is allowed for facilitating the arrest of accused Sumedh Singh Saini who is evading arrest. Arrest warrants against the accused Sumedh Singh Saini are issued for 25.09.2020.”

As soon as it became clear that Sumedh Singh Saini’s bail plea has been rejected by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, activists of the Dal Khalsa leaders and activists splashed posters of his being WANTED all across Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur.  It is interesting to note that though the police may have removed the posters from the walls, they are in wide circulation on the internet.

“We will reward with a Gold medal and more anyone who provides details about the whereabouts of the absconding killer cop, who brutally tortured and extrajudicial murdered hundreds in illegal police custody.”

Kanwarpal Singh, Spokesperson, Dal Khalsa

Significantly, the Dal Khalsa did not stop at that. Cocking a snook at the Punjab Police known to put a price on the heads of Sikh freedom fighters, the Dal Khalsa leader Kanwarpal Singh told the media, “We will reward with a Gold medal and more anyone who provides details about the whereabouts of the absconding killer cop, who brutally tortured and extrajudicial murdered hundreds in illegal police custody.”

Sikh social media activists are awash with posters about the voluntary disappearance of Sumedh Singh Saini.  Those whose children were victims of involuntary disappearance are seething with anger at the inefficiency of the Punjab Police in arresting the absconding Director General of Police Punjab and are waiting with bated breaths about how, where and in what condition will he be detained.

While the Punjab Police will now be forced to execute judicial orders, one wonders what steps will the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government take against those police personnel who were protecting him as he was supposed to be a Z-security protected? Have proceedings been initiated against them for negligence? Where are they? Are they with Sumedh Singh Saini wherever he is in hiding?

A Mumbai-based lawyer Amritpal Singh has dashed off an SOS to Punjab Police DGP Dinkar Gupta asking him to issue red-corner notice against Sumedh Saini so that he does not flee the country. His plea reads, “There is a very strong reason to believe that Sumedh Singh Saini might escape from the country. Therefore, it is important to approach the National Central Bureau (Interpol) and get a “RED CORNER” notice against Sumedh Singh Saini, so that his attempt (if any) to flee from this country are foiled and he does not escape from the clutches of law.”

Harjinder Singh from San Jose, whose brother and three other Sikh youth were killed in 1986 weepingly told WSN on the phone, “I still await that the killer cops of my brother and his friends of the Sikh Students Federation are brought to justice. My elderly father and mother will heave a sigh of relief to see Saini behind bars.”

The comments of Justice Fatehdeep Singh while rejecting the bail plea of Sumedh Saini tells the whole story of police high-handedness.

Quoting a Supreme Court judgement in the case of  ‘Japani Sahoo vs. Chandra Sekhar Mohanty’ (2007) 7 SCC 394, the Supreme Court of India has held that general rule of criminal justice is that a crime never dies. The relevant part of the judgment reads, “The general rule of criminal justice is that “a crime never dies”. The principle is reflected in the well- known maxim nullum tempus aut locus occurrit regi (lapse of time is no bar to Crown in proceeding against offenders).

“Since it is at this juncture, the investigating agency has woken up and gathered courage to investigate its own officer and therefore, the vital pieces of evidence which would come handy in leading to various leads would inch towards unraveling this puzzle which too has baffled the citizenry who are looking upon the justice system as a last resort to get justice…”

Justice Fatehdeep Singh, in the order dismissing the bail plea of Sumedh Singh Saini

Citing the waywardness of Saini and his power to intimidate witnesses and investigative officers, Justice Fatehdeep Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High Court concluded, “Moreover, as is brought to the notice of this Court that in the Trial of this case at New Delhi the petitioner has intimidated even the investigating officer of CBI forcing him to turn hostile. Since much evidence of police officials and other witnesses has come up after the decision of earlier bail application of petitioner,”

“An urgent need arises to preserve the same from prying eyes of the petitioner, for the trial. Moreover, in such nature of crime the commission is in utmost secrecy and coming across witnesses is a herculean task in itself as it is more based on circumstances and common human experiences which were experienced in abundance by this State in those dark days. Since it is at this juncture, the investigating agency has woken up and gathered courage to investigate its own officer and therefore, the vital pieces of evidence which would come handy in leading to various leads would inch towards unraveling this puzzle which too has baffled the citizenry who are looking upon the justice system as a last resort to get justice.

….In the light of the seriousness of offences that have come about there being every likelihood of petitioner stifling fair investigations and trial and for which custodial interrogation of the petitioner is very much essential to piece together this unfortunate incident, necessitates dismissal of the instant bail application,” added the judge.

Now are testing times for the Punjab and Indian police administration to detain a fugitive from the law who at one time was a law unto himself.