CHANDIGARH: The issue of what is called “Watery grave for Punjab” came up for consideration before a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court consisting of the Chief Justice M-Jois and Justice J.L.Gupta when a public interest petition was filed by Lt-Col P.J.S. Mehta (retd) regarding the discovery of about 20 dead bodies from the Bhakra Canal.
With the writ petition a report published in the newspapers showing the discovery of a car from the canal with two dead bodies with tied hands and feet was annexed It was stated in the petition that the discovery of a large “number of bodies from the basement of the canal was an exceptional phenomenon and almost all newspapers had written editorials on it.
The discovery of dead bodies was more shocking to the people of Chandigarh Mohali and Panchkula who use the water of this canal for drinking purposes.
It was emphatically stated that people suspect that these bodies were of those people who were allegedly killed by police either in fake encounters or during interrogations the credibility of the police being the lowest it was proposed that some independent agency should be appointed to investigate the matter so that curiosity and doubts of the people could be removed. The Bench issued notice of motion to the state of Punjab through its Chief Secretary for July 17. G.S Grewal with H.S Nagra and Harinderpal Singh appeared for the petitioner.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 19, 1992
