CHANDIGARH, Nov 11 The Akali Dal (Mann) chief, Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, today strongly criticized the ban imposed by the Chandigarh Administration on the “public hearings” of the alleged excesses committed by the Punjab police, organized here by the Punjabi Lawyers Association.
Talking to newsmen here, Mr Mann felt that the ban order issued by the District Magistrate was a direct challenge to the fundamental rights, including the life and liberty of the citizens, and was designed to “hide the misdeeds of some corrupt and brutal officials” of the State government.
He pointed out that holding of public hearings into police “excesses” by private citizens was not a novel concept. The Congress Party had appointed a committee, which’ included Mahatma Gandhi and Motilal Nehru, to go into the martial law tortures in Punjab following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The India League held an enquiry into the repression in martial law conditions following the 1932 Acts. After Independence, the Tarkunde and Khanna commissions held enquiries into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The purpose of the hearings had been -explained in a letter to the Governor by the Punjabi Lawyers Association. His cooperation was sought in removing public grievances. Instead of appreciating the gesture of the Association, the veteran Gandhian had banned the public hearings. Mr Mann said the association had decided to approach the President to apprise him of the “grave” danger to the fundamental rights of the people arising out of the ban order. It would also consult leading jurists for legal action and guidance. This would be followed by a “mass movement to educate the public against the order. Unless the ban was lifted; the association might shift the public hearings to Delhi before the gaze of the whole world to expose the “grave threat” to freedom.
Mr Mann asserted that the lifting to the ban on public hearings would be the first major test to establish the democratic credentials of the new Prime Minister, Mr Chandra Shekhar.
Mr Hans Raj Sharma and Mr Gurbir Singh, two other leaders of the Punjab Sangharsh Morcha who were present at the press conference, also criticized the ban and demanded its immediate withdrawal.
Mr Sharma said Mr Chandra Shekhar should not repeat the mistakes of the previous Prime Minister and hold immediate elections to the Punjab Assembly so that the people of the troubled state, who had long been deprived of their democratic rights, could realize their hopes and aspirations.
Mr Gurbir Singh said a signature drive had also been launched today against the ban and the first one to sign the memorandum was Mrs Gurbachan Kaur, mother of Mr Simranjit Singh Mann.
