Punjab sets up fresh commission to probe sacrilege incidents

Rejecting as "inconclusive" the report of the Zora Singh Commission, the Punjab Government today constituted a fresh Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice (retd) Ranjit Singh, to investigate all cases of sacrilege in the state.
"The government, through a notification issued by the Department of Home Affairs and Justice, has included all sacrilege incidents, including those involving the Srimad Bhagwad Gita and the Holy Quran Sharif besides Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, in the ambit of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission's terms of reference," an official spokesman said.
The new Commission, set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1952, has a tenure of six months.

Justice (retd) Ranjit Singh is a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The commission will enquire into the detailed facts and circumstances of what happened and to identify the role played by various persons in various incidents of sacrilege in Faridkot and other places in the state.
It has also been tasked to enquire into an incident of firing in Kotkapura on October 10, 2015 and village Behbalkalan, District Faridkot, in which two persons died.

As per its terms of reference, the Commission will identify and enquire into the role of the police officers in incomplete or inconclusive investigations into the earlier incidents of sacrileges so far.

The notification follows the state government's conclusion, after considering various factors including the Punjab Advocate General's advice, that the Justice Zora Singh Commission, set up by the previous SAD-BJP government had "not answered the very substance of the reference - an enquiry into the incident of sacrilege and the role of police force."
In his advice, the Advocate General, Punjab had also observed that the Commission did not complete the fundamental limb of the enquiry - the truth of what occurred in such incidents and the factual role of the persons who may have been involved.
"The findings in the Commission are broad on such aspects and it has not named or identified precisely the role of the persons involved. Also certain aspects and issues entrusted to it remain unanswered and are not dealt with in depth to enable the Government to reach definitive conclusions," the Advocate General had concluded.

Noting that there had been further incidents of sacrilege even after the establishment of the Zora Commission, the Punjab Government felt that the "matter is of utmost public concern and importance, requiring a proper and comprehensive enquiry.