CHANDIGARH, Punjab—The Congress led Punjab government spearheaded by Captain Amarinder Singh claims itself to be a sympathizer of Sikhs but in reality it is sympathizer of those Indian state’s tools who committed excesses on innocent Sikh youths during the militancy period in Punjab.
On one side, the Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh refrains from recommending the release of even those Sikhs like Bhai Lakhwinder Singh Lakha, Bhai Gurmeet Singh Engineer and Bhai Shamsher Singh, who have spent more than two decades of their lives in jail, but on the other hand he has recommended the premature release of even those killer Police cops who didn’t spend even a day in jail.
Recently, the Punjab government has recommended remission of 15 cops who were held guilty by the Court in cases pertaining to extra-judicial killings and kidnapping.
Interestingly, the Punjab government has cited reasons like poor financial condition, diseases like cancer and heart ailments, besides age-related health problems for seeking remission of these cops.
Seven of the cops have not even completed one year of their sentence in jail despite getting convicted for the offences committed during the militancy era between 1980 and 1993.
The most interesting case among these cases is of a 63-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector, who was addressed three-year imprisonment in March 2009 for kidnapping a youth in 1998 but he didn’t spend even a day in jail and is out on bail since then. The Punjab government has sought his remission citing old age and poor financial condition.
Another surprising case is of an 83-year-old former Inspector, who was convicted for life in September last year, for kidnapping and murdering a youth in 1992. Interestingly, he has only spent 11 months in jail so far.
Similarly, the Punjab government has also recommended release of a 69 year old Ex-DSP, who was addressed three years imprisonment in a kidnapping case in March 2013, and has spent just a month in jail so far. The government recommendation says he is suffering from age-related health problems.
The Punjab government has also recommended remission of a 68 year old Inspector citing poor financial conditions, who was convicted to life in December 2016 in a case pertaining to the kidnapping and disappearance of a youth in October 1992. Till date, he has spent only two months and four days in jail.
Similar is the case of an ex-DSP sentenced to seven-year term. He remained in jail for five months only.
Two Inspectors convicted together for life in a November 1992 case have been recommended for release after spending five and ten months, respectively. The government reasoned that one of them aged 75 was suffering from cancer (final stage) while the other, aged 73, had a heart ailment.
On being contacted by media, Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that he was not aware of the details of the cases recommended for the remission by his government.
So let them die in prision end off, don’t care if these people have cancer or anyhing else. They must serve their time.