:dateline:Hailing the Ludhiana court�decision acquitting Sikh nationalist leader Daljit Singh from 2012 old�case under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention�Act, 1967, the Dal Khalsa slammed Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal for misusing�the police machinery to stifle the voice and jeopardise the political career of Daljit Singh by implicating him in totally false case under flimsy charges.�To drive their point home, the�organization leaders quoted the findings of US based Human Rights Watch South�Asia Director Meenakshi Ganguly saying that India routinely uses vaguely worded
laws such as sedition and criminal defamation as political tools to stifle�dissent.
�Notably,�the Ludhiana police booked Daljit Singh under UAPA, 1967 and Explosive Act in�2012. Last day, the court of additional session judge Sandeep Singh Bajwa has�acquitted Daljit Singh and others as the prosecution has failed to prove the�allegations made in the charge-sheet.�
Party’s�former head H S Dhami and senior activist Kanwar Pal Singh said the case�against Daljit Singh was motivated by other than legal reasons. He had to remain�behind bars for sixteen months before he got bail from�High Court in March 2014 and during investigation he has subject to torture, said both.�
At�the time of his arrest, he was heading the political party SAD (Panch Pardani),�they said and added�Daljit Singh, who was a political dissenter and was�inconvenient to the present establishment of Punjab, was made to suffer without
any fault. �
“The�state home minister Sukhbir while pursuing the undemocratic method gagged him,�said both.�The acquittal of Daljit Singh was�reprimand to the working of police department that has become a mere tool in�the hands of the political masters.
Further quoting the 108-page report of the Human�Rights Watch (HRW) titled �Stifling Dissent�, they said Indian authorities�should see the findings as a mirror and repeal all such laws that were prone to�misuse and have been repeatedly abused by ruling parties to suppress those who�hold independent thoughts and beliefs at national as well as state level.
Appreciating the HRW for raising its concern about�the dismal human rights situation in India, they said �as we continue to live�in dangerous times � we still live in the shadows of a past under the brutal jackboots�of the entire State machinery about which there has been absolutely no�accountability rather total impunity to the forces.
