Punjab disobeyed EC directive on sacrilege cases: SAD

Chandigarh, July 26 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal on Friday said the latest revelations from the Election Commission that the state government had gone to the extent of disobeying its orders to retain Inspector General (IG) Kunwar Vijay Pratap as member of a team probing sacrilege cases was proof of the politicisation.

In a statement here, former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said the Election Commission's letter to the Punjab Chief Secretary had not only held the government guilty of disobeying its express orders to transfer the IG as member of the Special Investigating Team, but had also directed the government to ensure this did not happen again.

"The very fact that the government was ready to suffer the ignominy of a public apology on this issue is itself indicative that it was under some compulsion to suffer this humiliation. The government needs to explain what this compulsion was and why it had gone to such an extraordinary length to retain the IG as member of SIT," it said.

The Akali leader said since the government had admitted that it had continued to retain the IG as member of SIT illegally and in violation of the orders of the Election Commission; all unprofessional, politically motivated and unethical actions of the IG during this period should be reviewed.

The sacrilege case, which is under investigation by Pratap, relates to the alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari village in Faridkot in October 2015.

Two people were killed and many others injured in Behbal Kalan village of the district on October 15, 2015, when police resorted to unprovoked firing on hundreds of people protesting the sacrilege.