Lekha G
The Punjab and Haryana HC in its 89-page judgment on Friday gave a clean chit to former Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal in the Kotkapura firing case.
Justice Rajbir Sehrawat ruled “ If mere talking of the Chief Minister, or for that matter by a minister with his DGP or the district administration, is taken as a criminal conspiracy, any Chief Minister can be held criminally liable every day for any wrong-doing resulting from wrong functioning of district officials,” In such cases collection of material to establish prior meeting of minds for conspiracy and directly linking the same to the CM is necessary.
The court also ruled that the conclusion of police firing being unprovoked was against the record and that IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh was indulged in political maneuvering, misusing his official position.
In regard to the police firing, the Bench asserted that “The protestors are recorded to have chased and attacked the police, including with the swords. Therefore, the conclusion that the protestors were sitting peacefully when the police started firing and also the conclusion that firing by the police was unprovoked, is against the record”.
The Bench found that Kunwar conducted the investigation in a desultory manner and the report submitted by him was based on assumptions rather than on material evidences.
He was also accused of creating a narrative to gratify a political party during elections. Further the petitioners succeeded in establishing the fact that Kunwar manufactured statements of witnesses to suit his designs.
