With investigations against them having failed to yield any concrete evidence so far to prove the charges of corruption against them, the Akalis, in an apparent counter-attack, formally approached the NHRC today with their grievances against the Amarinder Singh government.‘‘We have taken the battle to the national theatre and have sought the NHRC’s intervention,’’ SAD president and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said here before submitting a 196-page petition to NHRC chairman Dr A.S. Anand.In the petition, Badal has asked the NHRC to issue directions to the government against victimising political opponents through ‘‘gross misuse of authority’’. Badal led the team of Akali leaders comprising 43 legislators and four MPs and was accompanied by SGPC chairman G.S. Tohra. Sukhbir, Badal’s MP son, who has defied summons from the Vigilance Bureau, was also part of the team.In the petition, Badal has alleged that his partymen, charged with corruption, were being subjected to third-degree torture and repression to ‘‘extract confessions’’, while at least four Congress ministers, indicted for misappropriation of funds by the Lok Pal, were allowed to continue in office.
