Sukhbir Badal assures all help to family in suicide case

Chandigarh, Sep 11 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Friday assured all help to the family of Gulzar Singh, who committed suicide after being allegedly intimidated by the panchayat and pressurised to issue an apology to Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema for questioning him on the rampant sale of synthetic drugs (chitta). 

Gulzar’s son Lakhwinder met the Akali Dal chief at the latter’s residence on Friday and narrated the tale of horror which had led to the death of his father. He disclosed in detail how the Punjab Police, on the directions of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, had forcibly carried out Gulzar’s cremation by using brute force. Lakhwinder said the family was not permitted to see Gulzar in his final moments and even the latter’s cremation was carried out without its consent.

“We were even denied the right to perform ‘isnaan’ and ‘ardas’ and Gulzar’s mother, wife and children were not allowed to even bid him a final farewell,” he claimed.

Expressing shock at the turn of events, Badal said the disclosures had both pained and angered him. “The family has suffered an unimaginable ordeal at the hands of a callous and cruel government which has no concern for the people and is only worried about protecting Finance Minister Harpal Cheema, who is responsible for the death of Gulzar.” He said since Gulzar had implicated the Finance Minister in his dying declaration, the police would eventually have to register an abetment to suicide case against him.

“I have assured Lakhwinder that SAD will take this case to its logical conclusion and have also assured him of all legal, financial and social assistance to help this family recover from the trauma and humiliation they have endured at the hands of the AAP government,” Badal said.

He also made it clear that the officers who inflicted cruelty on the family of the suicide victim would also have to answer for their misdeeds.

“No one has the right to trample on the rights of a grieving family in this manner.” He said action should be taken against each and every person guilty of humiliating Gulzar and forcing him to take his life. “This should start from the top and cover all the guilty,” Badal added.

--IANS

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