The Bar­gari In­saf Mor­cha will again be at the doors of the ECI on 20 April as the SIT headed by ADGP Pra­bodh Ku­mar, with­out its in­ves­ti­ga­tor IG Kun­war Vi­jay Par­tap Singh read­ies to file a lame-duck charge sheet in the Oc­to­ber 2015 Be­hbal Kalan fir­ing in­ci­dent.

The Elec­tion Com­mis­sion, even af­ter re­ceiv­ing a re­quest from the Pun­jab gov­ern­ment, com­plaints from all ma­jor po­lit­i­cal par­ties of Pun­jab –the Con­gress, Aam Aadmi Party and Tak­sali Akali Dal, rep­re­sen­ta­tions from Pan­thic par­ties –Dal Khalsa,  Bar­gari In­saaf Mor­cha, United Akali Dal, the Sad­hb­ha­vana Dal and a fer­vent ap­peal from the vic­tim fam­i­lies to re­in­state IG Kun­war Par­tap Singh back to SIT to en­sure that there is no ob­struc­tion of jus­tice and the guilty po­lice of­fi­cers –at all lev­els in the hi­er­ar­chy are brought to book, has not acted so far.

With the chief in­ves­ti­ga­tor In­spec­tor Gen­eral Kun­war Vi­jay Pratap Singh side­lined by the ECI on a friv­o­lous com­plaint of the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal, the Spe­cial In­ves­ti­ga­tion Team is work­ing over­time to file a charge sheet –shall we say Dis-Charge sheet in the Oc­to­ber 2015 Be­hbal Kalan po­lice fir­ing in which two Sikhs were killed.

Un­der the pre­text of en­sur­ing that one of the de­tained se­nior po­lice per­son is kept be­hind the bars, as the manda­tory 90 days pe­riod ends of 27 April, per­haps with the com­plic­ity of the le­gal team of the Pun­jab gov­ern­ment, a be­hind the scenes cha­rade is un­der way to take elec­toral ad­van­tage and be­fool the vic­tim fam­i­lies and the peo­ple of Pun­jab that jus­tice would soon be done. In the ab­sence of IG Kun­war Vi­jay Par­tap Singh, planted sto­ries are do­ing the rounds of the me­dia, wherein ev­i­dence col­lected is be­ing chal­lenged and the ac­cused are be­ing touted as wit­nesses.

The vic­tim fam­i­lies and Pan­thic bod­ies in their com­mu­niqué had warned the ECI that the Malwa re­gion would wit­ness un­rest if by re­mov­ing IG Kun­war Vi­jay Par­tap Singh, the ECI gives this im­pres­sion that it was against the trial of those re­spon­si­ble for the Be­hbal Kalan killings and also the Sauda Dera fol­low­ers who had fla­grantly car­ried out acts of sac­ri­lege against Guru Granth Sahib.  Now the Bar­gari In­saaf Mor­cha has an­nounced an­other protest rally in Chandi­garh on 20 April tar­get­ing the Elec­tion Com­mis­sion of In­dia.

The Elec­tion Com­mis­sion of In­dia, de­spite all the de­tails that var­i­ous bod­ies have pre­sented to it, has failed to fathom the point that it is very rare that Pan­thic par­ties come in sup­port of a po­lice of­fi­cer and that it is so in this case be­cause it re­lates to the sac­ri­lege of Guru Granth Sahib and Kun­war Vi­jay Par­tap Singh has shown grit in ar­rest­ing two se­nior-most po­lice per­son­nel- IG Paramraj Singh Um­ranan­gal and SSP Cha­ran­jit Sharma, who were di­rectly re­spon­si­ble for the killings.

The Elec­tion Com­mis­sion of In­dia will lose face and faith in Pun­jab should the in­ves­ti­ga­tion be de­railed and a “Dis-Charge sheet” in­stead of a Charge sheet is filed by the Spe­cial In­ves­ti­ga­tion Team in this highly sen­si­tive case.

Like­wise, should the Pun­jab gov­ern­ment go soft on the is­sue, af­ter hav­ing raised ex­pec­ta­tions and hopes of jus­tice, it would be con­firm­ing the worst fears of the peo­ple, es­pe­cially the de­vout, forc­ing them to say that the Con­gress too has gone the Akali way.

Should this hap­pen, it would be a sad day for Pun­jab.