Chandigarh, September 3: While human rights organisations, at home and abroad, have been demanding the release of Sikh detainees, the Punjab Police have moved the Ministry of Home Affairs (MEA) seeking relief for policemen booked during Punjab’s militancy period, some of whom have been in prison for years.
At meetings with the Union Home Department and the Solicitor General recently, Punjab DGP Suresh Arora, who retires next month, reportedly pleaded for a “sympathetic” view, stressing that these policemen had been charged for “acts committed while on duty during anti-terror operations”.
Speaking to The Tribune, DGP Arora held: “The department has made a plea on humanitarian grounds and to keep the morale of the police high in view of fresh challenges ahead. Also, the department did initiate action for ‘aberrations’ during the trying times of terrorism”.
However, former DGP SS Virk, among those who led the force during militancy, had another view. “All accused police officials cannot be treated likewise. Each case has to be studied and decided on merit. True, the fight against terrorism was a national cause and those at the forefront must be defended. But those who violated human rights and abused authority must be punished,” he stressed.
Activist Jaspal Singh Manjhpur, who has been fighting for the release of Sikh detainees, said the move smacked of double standards. “Key 20 Sikh detainees are still languishing in jails. The question is why has the trial of these cops started so late, or not started at all? It’s because the government has been shielding them,” he claimed.
Data gathered from the police shows that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked 188 cops between 1993 and 1998.
As many as 43 of them died during pendency.
Of the rest, 80 are above the age of 75. At least 70 policemen are in prison, facing trial. They have been out on parole or bail for varying periods.
Eighty-three cops, who retired from service during pendency, filed separate petitions for full pension.
Of them, 20 have been convicted. Five committed suicide and three died of illness during incarceration.
One of them, Superintendents of Police Ram Singh, who suffered kidney failure while in Amritsar jail, was convicted by a Special CBI court in 2015 in a fake encounter case.
Source Tribune India
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