HC transfers Behbal Kalan firing case from Faridkot to Chandigarh
One of the accused, Charanjit Sharma, who was the then Moga SSP, had in 2019 sought the transfer of the case on security grounds.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday transferred the trial in the 2015 Behbal Kalan firing case from Faridkot to Chandigarh.
The high court acted on the plea of one of the accused, Charanjit Sharma, then Moga senior superintendent of police, who had in 2019 sought the transfer of the case on security grounds.
The case was registered on October 21, 2015, a week after two protesters were killed allegedly in the police firing at Behbal Kalan in the aftermath of the sacrilege incidents.
A firing incident was reported at Kotkapura also where protesters suffered injuries.
The incidents followed three incidents of sacrilege with the first reported on June 1, 2015, when a “bir” of Guru Granth Sahib was stolen from a gurdwara at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in Faridkot. Later, derogatory posters were put up at Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on September 24, 2015, night and torn pages of a “bir” were found scattered near Bargari gurdwara on October 12, 2015.
Besides Sharma, former Punjab Police chief Sumedh Singh Saini and then inspector general of police Paramraj Singh Umranangal are among the accused in the case. Saini and Umranangal were chargesheeted by the SIT on January 15, 2021.
Lawyers associated with the case said that the petition from Sharma, seeking transfer of trial from Faridkot to Chandigarh has been allowed. The status of the case on the high court website also showed “allowed”.
The detailed judgment is awaited.
In February 2023, the trial in three interlinked cases of the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari in 2015 was transferred from Faridkot to Chandigarh by the Supreme Court. In these cases, the Punjab Police special investigation team (SIT) named Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim as the main conspirator.
The trial is underway before a court in Chandigarh.
