Probe report against Giani Harpreet flawed, baseless: PHRO

Amid the row over the removal of Takht jathedars by the executive committee of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the Punjab Human Rights Organization (PHRO) on Wednesday came up with its inquiry report stating that the gurdwara body-appointed three-member probe panel acted without adequate evidence, disregarded court and police records, and even destroyed critical documents related to the investigation.

Giani Harpreet Singh was sacked by the SGPC executive on February 10, nearly nine weeks after pronouncement of December 2 Akal Takht ‘hukamnama’ (Sikh decree) in which he played key role and that awarded ‘tankhah’ (religious punishment) to SAD leaders, including Sukhbir Singh Badal, for the mistakes committed by the party and its government from 2007 to 2017, besides revoking “Panth Rattan Fakhr-e-Qaum” conferred on former party patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and calling for revamp of the party and leadership change.

“The probe report, on basis of which he was terminated, is found flawed, baseless and not as per facts,” the PHRO said in its report.

The PHRO head and Punjab and Haryana high court lawyer Advocate Rajwinder Singh Bains sent a copy of the report to SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami urging him to take action against the alleged manipulations made by the SGPC probe panel against Giani Harpreet.

Going through the old domestic dispute of Giani Harpreet’s sister-in-law with her ex-husband Gurpreet Singh, the PHRO inquiry report states: “The SGPC probe report underlines Gurpreet Singh’s allegations that Giani Harpreet Singh played role in his breakup with his ex-wife. Gurpreet also accused him of illicit relations with her. However, in police and court, no allegation was made by him against Giani Harpreet. In 2007, Gurpreet lodged a complaint against Giani Harpreet with the SGPC. However, flying department (an internal investigative body used to investigate administrative irregularities and other issues) of the SGPC held Giani Harpreet innocent. But the report of the flying department was destroyed by the three-member panel of the SGPC recently before sacking Giani Harpreet in connivance with a former SAD leader,” the PHRO report states.