CHANDIGARH: Prof Manjit Singh, Jathedar Akal Takht, recently said that the nonsalable arrest warrant against Mr.H.K.L, Bhagat would as shag lingering doubts among the Sikh ‘community that there were two set of Taws in this country, one for the common man and the other for the ruling party’s senior leaders. ‘The Jathedar said in Patiala, that the senior Congress Leader should be tried as an ordinary citizen and no favor of any kind should be shown to him.

‘Welcoming the warrant against Mr. Bhagat, the general secretary of the Punjab unit of the Janata Dal, Mr. Teja Singh Tiwana, said that it would re~ store the people’s faith in the judicial system of the country.

In Amritsar, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) additional secretary, Mr. Kulwant Singh, felt that people like Mr, Bhagat had Lill now evaded standing trial for the 1984 riots, but “the judiciary has once again acted in a most responsible and Mr. Kulwant Singh observed that the SGPC and other Sikh organizations including the Shiromani Akali Dal had for over a decade been demanding that the persons behind the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 be brought to trial, He felt the Prime Minister, Mr P.V.Narasimha Rao, who was the Home Minister at the time of riots, had forfeited his right to continue in office in the wake of the warrant issued against Mr. Bhagat, he hoped that other Congress leaders widely believed to have been involved in riots, would be brought to trial. (Mr. Kirpal Singh Randhawan, president of the Amritsar unit of a human rights organization, wanted Mr. Bhagat to be arrested immediately and action initiated against others like Mr. Jagdish Tytler against whom various fact finding committees had provided substantial evidence of involvement in the riots.

Mr. Simranjit Singh Mann, President of the Akali Dal (Amritsar), expressed the hope in Ludhiana, that the warrants would be really executed this time and what had happened at Mr. Sajjan Kumar’s house earlier, where the CBI party carrying the warrants, was beaten up, would not be repeated. Mr. Mann said all other accused in the 1984 carnage must be arrested and preceded against pending their trial; they must be debarred from contesting future elections.

‘Mr. Darbara Singh Gill, chairman of the International Human Rights Organization, termed it an appreciable step.

Mr. Prem Singh Chandumajra, General Secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal, led by Mr, Parkash Singh Badal, and former minister, felt the warrant, coming as it does 11 years after the incident and well after persons have been named by probes, showed that the reality had at last dawned. Welcoming the issuance of the nonsalable arrest warrants against Mr, Bhagat, Mr. Kuldip Singh Wadala, the senior vice president of the Shiromani Akali DAI, said at Jalandhar, that although the action took so long in coming but, “we hope. That justice may be delayed, but not be denied in this case.” He further said that in this context the role of the Supreme Court will go a long way to assuage the feelings of the Sikhs. “Although on the face of it the arrest warrants appear to be a positive step, but “it remains to be seen whether the government refrains from interfering in the case at a later stage by pressurizing the witnesses for instance,” he added.

Article extracted from this publication >>  January 24, 1996