Report on Bargari sacrilege, firing at Behbal Kalan submitted

The Justice (retd) Ranjit Singh Commission, constituted to investigate sacrilege cases in the state, today submitted its final report on the Bargari sacrilege incident and the resulting police firing at Behbal Kalan, as part of its first set of findings.

Justice Singh handed over the report in a sealed envelope to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh who forwarded it to the state Home Secretary and the Advocate General for examination, in a time-bound manner, so that the guilty can be brought to book at the earliest, said an official spokesperson.

The Commission was constituted in April 2017 under Section 11 of the Commission of Inquiry Act 1952 by the Congress government to probe cases of desecration of the holy Guru Granth Sahib and other religious texts at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, Bargari, Gurusar and Mallke.

The incidents led to massive protests in different parts of the state and at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura, two people were killed in police firing.

The CM had earlier, rejected as "inconclusive" the findings of the Zora Singh Commission set up by the previous SAD-BJP government.

The Commission led by Justice Singh had a mandate to enquire into the detailed facts and circumstances and chronology of events of what actually happened and to identify as a matter of fact the role played by various persons into the incidents of sacrilege in Faridkot and other places.

The chief minister, meanwhile, congratulated the SIT for the arrest of four men suspected to be responsible for the sacrilege incidents in Faridkot.

The SIT arrested the four Dera Sacha Sauda followers earlier this month.

Singh expressed hope that the arrests would help the CBI, which is probing the cases, in completing its investigations so that the victims get justice and the guilty were punished.

Singh made it clear that his government would take the matter to its logical conclusion.