Punjab govt politically exploiting sacrilege cases: BJP

Chandigarh, July 7 (IANS) Former Union Minister and former Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Vijay Sampla on Tuesday accused the state government of politically exploiting the sensitive issue of sacrilege to divert public attention from its failures.

Sampla, who appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Chandigarh in connection with the 2015 Behbal Kalan firing case linked to multiple sacrilege incidents, said the Aam Aadmi Party government had promised justice before coming to power, but after over four-and-a-half years it had failed to deliver it.

He told the media that with elections approaching, the government was once again attempting to revive the issue for political gain by exploiting the emotions of the Sikh community.

He said the BJP has consistently maintained that every person responsible for the Behbal Kalan incident must be identified through a fair, impartial and transparent investigation and be awarded the strictest punishment in accordance with law.

He added that this has always been the BJP's stand and remains unchanged.

Referring to his appearance before the SIT, Sampla said this was the fourth summons issued to him. He recalled that he had earlier appeared before the SIT in Jalandhar as well and had then requested certified copies of the relevant documents on which his comments were being sought.

He said he had repeatedly requested that the SIT provide certified copies of the documents, specify the specific record they wanted him to respond to, and explain his alleged connection to the matter.

He added that without examining the documents, it would be improper and irresponsible to make any comments.

Sampla pointed out that the document shown to him during the latest questioning was a memorandum submitted to the Governor on January 12, 2018.

He questioned why an SIT inquiry was being initiated over a memorandum that was neither confidential nor secret and had already been publicly shared with the media.

He said despite spending nearly three hours before the SIT, he was only shown the document and was not provided a certified copy despite repeated requests from him and his legal team.

He added that he even pointed out that, in today's digital age, documents can easily be manipulated, and therefore only a certified copy can be relied upon.

Despite this reasonable request, the SIT refused to provide one.

--IANS

vg/dan