Call the Sikhs mad and punish them is the crux of the order of the Nawan Shahr Sessions court. Along with other parties and groups, Dal Khalsa launched a scathing attack on the judgement and called the judgement a collusion of the judiciary and the executive to crush Sikh rights and aspirations and deplored the Akali Dal for initiating these proceedings.

Holding aloft the placards with photos of 13 martyrs of the Saka 1978, and history books relating to Babbar Khalsa chief Sukhdev Singh Babbar, alluded to in the judgement sentencing three Sikh youth, by the Sessions Judge Nawan Shahr, Dal Khalsa activists marched through the streets of the sleepy town of Nawan Shahr, shouting slogans against the judgement, teasing and taunting the administration and daring the state to take action against the them.

The 64 page rambling judgement of Additional Sessions Judge Randhir Verma, labours hard to prove the trio of Arvinder Singh, Surjit Singh and Ranjit Singh guilty of ‘waging war against the state’ but fails to do so because it attempts to read the mind of the accused rather than base the judgement on facts and evidence.

Waving the books referred to in the judgement to the protesters, the Dal Khalsa leaders called” the martyrs Sikh heroes and said that the books and photos of Sikh martyrs are the pride of our homes and museums.”

“Crushing the already-reduced space for dissent and upholding a different religio-political opinion, especially the right to self-determination, the order of Randhir Verma – the  Additional Sessions Judge of SBS Nagar court sentencing three youth to the maximum punishment of life imprisonment for mere possession of posters and literature relating to the Sikh struggle, is an annulment of the freedom of expression and portrays a clear enemy-like attitude towards the Sikhs”, said Dal Khalsa leader Harcharanjit Singh Dhami, in a statement released during their protest sit-in here today. The elderly mother of Arvinder Singh participated in the protest sit-in.

Dal Khalsa veteran leader Dhami said the order is a clear-cut case of how the judiciary has exceeded its brief to take on the role of the executive and how the executive has taken swift action to buttress the defaults of the judiciary. ‘It is nothing but judicial terror and political repression’, said he.

“The order of the Nawan Shahr judge is ‘a black chapter in the judicial history of Punjab.’

Paramjit Singh Tanda, General Secretary, Dal Khalsa

Addressing the spirited gathering outside court premises, Dhami said it was amusingly shocking to note that as a result of the overwhelming objections and denouncements of the judgement for ‘waging war’ by political activists and civil society, the police under instructions of the present Punjab government acted post-facto to foist another case against one of the accused to ‘build the case’ against the accused.

‘This proves that the judiciary, the executive and the police are hand-in-glove,’ said he while addressing the dharna.

” There was no conspiracy to overthrow the government, there was no evidence of any incitement upon reading the books, there was no proof that the accused actually read all the books that they possessed, there was no communication with any one through social media or otherwise which can come into the purview of criminal activity. They were all acquitted under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, thus proving that they were not members of any proscribed organisation. The accused did not hold any secret or public meetings to incite any individual or group to wage a war against the government of India”, said Dhami and added that the entire case is a frame-up to crush dissenting voices.

Party general secretary Paramjit Singh Tanda said, “The order of the Nawan Shahr judge is ‘a black chapter in the judicial history of Punjab.’

Speaking on the occasion Panjoli said “The allegation is that 97 books, 198 photographs and 13 photographs of Sikhs, who had died in the Saka of 1978 and 1000 books in connection with biography of Sukhdev Singh Babbar were recovered from him.” None of this is a crime and none of this has been proscribed by the government.

Sikh Youth of Punjab president Paramjit Singh Mand said, ‘the judge has moved from action pursuant to a conspiracy to mind reading. The judge’s focus is ‘mensrea –the guilty mind.’ No intent or action is mentioned or proved.

Prof Mohinder Pal Singh, General secretary of Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar and Panthic Front leader Sukhdev Singh Bhaur joined the spirited protest and derided the Akali Dal government for initiating the case and the present government for not undoing the wrong done by their predecessors.

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Members of Students For Society of Panjab University Chandigarh also attended the protest meet and expressed solidarity with the accused families and assured Dal Khalsa of full co-operation to fight this official onslaught in a civil and legal manner.