AMRITSAR SAHIB—Senior lawyer of Supreme Court of India, and AAP candidate for Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat HS Phoolka has challenged the claim of SGPC president Avtar Makkar, saying that he is lying about fees paid to lawyers for handling cases concerning 1984 Sikh genocide.
In a statement issued here, S. Phoolka said, “Avtar Singh Makkar’s claim, made at the Deputy CM’s instance, is false. I spoke to the lawyers, and sought details, [about] the fees paid to them. I was told the SGPC had paid about Rs 7 lakh (lakh = 100,000) to them, whereas Makkar is stating this amount to be Rs 42 lakh .”
“Kamna Vohra had [received] about Rs 5 lakh for handling 20 cases, Gurbax Singh Rs 1 lakh for four cases, and Jagjit Singh Rs 1 lakh for five cases. Jasmeet Singh, handling 5 cases, had not [yet] been paid any fee. He said all of them were established lawyers.” said S. Phoolka.
He continued, “The Sikh community is indebted to them for risking their life, and careers, by taking up these cases. Instead of being grateful to them, Makkar, at the insistence of Sukhbir Badal, is trying to malign the lawyers. Sukhbir is creating an atmosphere wherein no lawyer will come forward to fight cases against the likes of Sajjan Kumar, and Tytler.”
On the other hand, triggering more confusions on the issue, the AISSF president Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, has claimed that ever since the CBI had filed a closure report in favor of Congress’ Jagdish Tytler in 2007, the case was being handled by a panel of lawyers retained by the US-based ‘Sikhs for Justice’.
