Chandigarh: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Amritsar North and former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh has resigned as chairman of the Punjab assembly’s committee on public assurances, reportedly over the handling of the investigations in the 2015 sacrilege cases.
According to highly placed sources, Singh emailed his resignation to the Punjab Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan Tuesday, and it was yet to be accepted.
A series of incidents of sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib, considered to be a living Guru by the Sikhs, took place in 2015. During a protest by Sikhs demanding justice in the cases, two people were killed in police firing. The twin episodes snowballed into major political and election issues in the state, leading to the debacle of the SAD- BJP government in the 2017 assembly elections. The Congress government that replaced the SAD-BJP too was seen as having failed to bring the culprits to book.
As chairman of the committee on public assurance of the assembly, Singh had undertaken an inquiry into the sacrilege cases. However, as sources said to ThePrint, he was upset over what he perceived as an attempt by the government to derail the ongoing investigations.
Government sources told ThePrint that Singh had called a meeting of the committee on 18 January and asked the Punjab DGP, Gaurav Yadav, and the chief secretary, V. K. Janjua, to appear before them. However, a day before the meeting, the Speaker cancelled all scheduled meetings of the various house panels and ordered heads of all such committees to meet him on 24 January. Instead of attending the meeting Tuesday, Singh sent in his resignation.
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Support for Singh
The Opposition was quick to react to the news of Singh’s resignation. Leader of the Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa said the Punjab government was playing with the emotions of Sikhs on the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and the alleged firing incident.
@AAPPunjab govt is playing with the emotions of Sikhs on sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib and the alleged police firing incident.
AAP MLA @Kvijaypratap has rightfully criticized his own govt on various occasions AAP's non-serious approach to doing justice on sacrilege.— Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) January 25, 2023
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira pointed at the discontentment against the Bhagwant Mann government and tweeted: Discontentment brewing against inefficient working of @BhagwantMann govt as its own Mla @Kvijaypratap has opted to resign against inaction over sacrilege cases! One year of AAP rule has proved no change for the better in fact situation worse than before-Khaira @INCIndia.
Not the first time
This is not the first time that Singh has made his displeasure over the functioning of the Mann government clear.
In November 2022, when Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri was killed in broad daylight in an Amritsar market, Singh, the MLA from that area, held the commissioner of police solely responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the city. Singh even sought the top cop’s dismissal. However, no action was taken against the police commissioner.
Singh had repeatedly expressed his displeasure over the handling of the sacrilege cases over the past year. In May last year, he wrote to the Chief Minister that the state government was slow in pursuing the sacrilege cases in the courts.
In July, when a report in the sacrilege cases was submitted by the special investigation team (SIT) of the Punjab Police to the Chief Minister, Singh had pointed out that there was little to cheer as the cases were still pending in the courts.
Singh ridiculed his own government in October when he said that justice could not be expected as long as the SIT constituted during the term of the former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh was investigating the sacrilege cases.
A 1998 batch IPS officer of the Punjab cadre, Singh had sought premature retirement from the force in 2021 and was given the ticket by AAP from Amritsar North to contest the elections.
Considered to be a hero among the Sikhs for the role he played while in service in the investigation in the sacrilege cases, Singh had in October last year also spoken at the Beadbi Insaaf Morcha (Sacrilege Justice Morcha), a body seeking justice for alleged police firing victims in 2015 cases, at Behbal Kalan at Faridkot.
As an IG in Punjab, Singh was part of the police inquiry into sacrilege cases. In May 2019, he had filed a voluminous chargesheet in the case indicting then Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal as also his Deputy Chief Minister son Sukhbir Badal, who was the then home minister.
In April 2021, however, Punjab and Haryana high court quashed Singh’s investigation, adding he had a political motive behind it. The 89-page judgment of the high court pointed at the “malice”, “absurdity” and “theatrics” of Singh in furtherance of the political agenda of the “current dispensation”.
Meanwhile, despite repeated attempts by ThePrint, neither Singh nor Speaker Sendhwa could be contacted over the phone or through WhatsApp messages. This report will be updated once either of them responds.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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