Badungar scuttling justice with refusal to appear before sacrilege commission, says Captain
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has accused SGPC chief Kirpal Singh Badungar of obstructing the course of justice by refusing to appear before the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission probing sacrilege cases in the state. Instead of cooperating with the Commission in the interest of the state’s peace and communal harmony, Badungar was refusing to join the investigation, exposing some nefarious interest in covering up the sacrilege incidents, said the Chief Minister. The decision to set up an independent Commission to investigate various sacrilege incidents, including the Bargari incident in Faridkot district, was aimed at ensuring that those found responsible for trying to destroy the communal fabric of the state were brought to book, said the Chief Minister. The SGPC should have welcomed the move instead of adopting a negative approach on it, Captain Amarinder said. While he was not in favour of government interference in the Commission’s proceedings, he was committed to maintaining peace in the state at all costs, the Chief Minister asserted. The Chief Minister said as the religious body responsible for the protection of Sikh rights and welfare, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) should have raised its voice against the various sacrilege incidents. By choosing to keep quiet all this time, and by refusing to cooperate now with the Commission, the SGPC had shown it had no interest in protecting the state’s religious harmony and amity, the Chief Minister said. -PTC News
