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Dal Khalsa has strongly criticized the arrests of Sikh leaders.
“Both the leaders and their party have
remained neutral to the current political controversy and to term their
arrest preventive in view of the bandh call is ridiculous and reflects
that in Punjab police could put anybody behind bars any time without any
solid reason,” said Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal singh while
criticizing the arrests.
Kanwarpal Singh argued that “If state
government and police apprehended any disturbance to peace then SAD-BJP
workers should have been arrested as they were participating in the
bandh”.
Ludhiana/Punjab (September 20, 2012):
According to recent reports available with Sikh Siyasat SGPC member and
Akali Dal Panch Pardhani (ADPP) President Bhai Kulbir Singh Barapind and
ADPP supreme council member Bhai Daljeet Singh who were arrested by
Punjab Police, have been remanded to judicial custody and are sent to
Ludhiana Jail.
Bhai Kulbir Singh Barapind was arrested
from his house around midnight on the intervening night of 19 and 20
September by Nawanshehr police, while Bhai Daljeet Singh was arrested by
Ludhiana police by from his residence on 20 September at around 9 am.
Both of them were lodged in Ludhian jail.
According to Times of India (TOI) news
report “[E]ven as till Thursday morning Jalndhar Rural Police, under
which village Barpind is located, claimed that it was not aware of the
arrest. Nawanshahr SSP Dhanpreet Kaur said that it was a preventive
detention in the wake of Bharat Bandh call. A team of police officials
led by Nawanshahr SP (HQ) Dharam singh Uppal picked Barapind from his
house and did not give any reason to him or his family to round him up”.
“He was sent to judicial custody in
Ludhiana jail till September 25 after he was produced by police before a
magistrate after arresting him under sections 107/151 CrPC at around
9.30”, TOI report adds.
It further adds that the explanation by
police officials to link the detentions with Bharat Bandh call sounded
bizarre as Akali Dal Panch Pardhani had neither given a call for and
bandh nor had articulated its views in support of FDI in retail.
Dal Khalsa has strongly criticized the arrests of Sikh leaders.
“Both the leaders and their party have
remained neutral to the current political controversy and to term their
arrest preventive in view of the bandh call is ridiculous and reflects
that in Punjab police could put anybody behind bars anytime without any
solid reason,” said Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal singh while
criticizing the arrests.
Kanwarpal Singh argued that “If state
government and police apprehended any disturbance to peace then SAD-BJP
workers should have been arrested as they were participating in the
bandh”.
According to TOI report Jalndhar (Rural)
SSP Yurinder Singh Hayer said that they had not arrested anybody else
in the district as a preventive measure.
As the two arrests stood isolated with
no preventive arrests of other political activists the police officials
were feeling short of words to explain the actual reason.
TOI has quoted sources as saying that
there were some other reasons to pick them up from their houses and
orders had come from ‘above’.
“The reason later given by the local police officials was after thought, said a police source” says TOI news report.
It is notable that Bhai Kulbir Singh
Barapind was extradited from United States of America. He was tried in
three cases and was acquitted in all the cases. He happens to be the
only SGPC member of anti SAD (Badal) factions from entire Doaba region.
He had won the election from Phillaur constituency.