2015 Kotkapura police firing: Faridkot Court denies relief to Sukhbir Badal, but grants pre-arrest bail to his father

The father-son duo on March 9 had moved the Faridkot court for anticipatory bail through their counsel Shiv Kartar Singh Sekhon. After hearing the arguments on March 14 and 15, the court had reserved its order.

“The court dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Sukhbir Singh Badal. However, it granted the same to the former chief minister,” said Arshdeep Singh Cheema, one of the lawyers who appeared for the Badals.

The Special Investigation Team of Punjab Police, led by ADGP LK Yadav, probing the police firing case last month had filed a charge sheet in a Faridkot court naming the Badals and then DGP Sumedh Saini and others.

Sukhbir and Saini were named as “masterminds of conspiracy for use of illegal excessive force to hide the inaction” of the state on three sacrilege incidents in Faridkot. The then chief minister Badal was blamed for “facilitating the execution of the conspiracy” in the 7,000-page chargesheet.

It was on March 6 that the Badals, Saini, and five other police officers — former Faridkot SSP Sukhmander Singh Mann, former DIG Amar Singh Chahal, former IG Paramraj Umranangal, former Moga SSP Charanjeet Singh Sharma, and former SHO Kotkapura Gurdeep Singh Randhaw — named in the chargesheet were issued notices in the Kotkapura firing case, and asked to be present before the court on March 23.

The court of judicial magistrate first class Ajaypal Singh had denied the application of Badals on March 6 in which they had sought a copy of the chargesheet. They were told that copies will be given on the day the accused have been called in the court.

Apart from indicting Badals and Saini, the chargesheet blamed police officers Param Raj Umranangal, Amar Singh Chahal, Sukhmander Singh Mann, and Charanjit Singh Sharma for “executing the conspiracy”. It also indicted Gurdeep Singh Randhawa for distortion and concealment of facts.

The Yadav-led SIT is probing two FIRs pertaining to the Kotkapura firing incident – filed on October 14, 2015, and August 7, 2018. Two people were killed in Behbal Kalan and a few others were injured in Kotkapura on October 14, 2015, when the police opened fire on people protesting against the theft of a ‘bir’ of the Guru Granth Sahib, recovery of sacrilegious posters, and alleged tearing of pages of the holy book at Bargari in Faridkot.

The incident took place when the SAD-BJP combine was in power in the state.

Of the 7,000-page chargesheet, 1,400 pages are on culpability, while the remaining 5,600 pages are documents and electronic evidence. The charges have been filed under Sections 307, 120B, 153, 119, 109, 34, 201, 217, 218, 167, 193, 465, 466, 471, 427, 323, 324, and 504 of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act.