CHANDIGARH, JUNE 12 — Aam Aadmi Party Punjab Media In-Charge Baltej Pannu stated on Thursday that recent developments in the Behbal Kalan firing case investigation have brought new facts to light regarding the Shiromani Akali Dal leadership’s handling of past sacrilege and firing incidents. Citing a formal statement given by former Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh to the Special Investigation Team, Pannu noted that SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal had previously accepted accountability for the events surrounding the Behbal Kalan police firing during an appearance before the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs.
Pannu maintained that the state has not forgotten the sequential tragedies of the 2015 sacrilege cases and the subsequent police actions at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura. He asserted that a video recording of the confession is preserved within the official records of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, making the Akali leader’s current public denials a significant contradiction.
“If Sukhbir Singh Badal accepted responsibility before Sri Akal Takht Sahib, how can he now deny it before the people of Punjab?” Pannu questioned during a press conference. He declared that changing stances between the religious institution and the public represents an insult to the sanctity of the temporal seat and misleads citizens who have spent over a decade waiting for legal resolution.
Reviewing historical administrative patterns, the media in-charge stated that previous Akali-BJP administrations consistently oversaw periods where sacrilege occurred, alleging that those governments prioritized cover-ups over justice. He drew comparisons to the 1986 Nakodar firing incident, asserting that the Akali administration at the time allowed critical parts of the judicial inquiry report to disappear while rewarding the involved police officials with senior political and administrative positions.
Pannu stated that the same structural suppression occurred in 2015 following the theft of a holy bir from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala. When the public held peaceful demonstrations against the desecration, the state responded with force, leading to the use of water cannons at Kotkapura and lethal police gunfire that killed two Sikh protestors at Behbal Kalan.
The AAP leader affirmed that the current administration led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has granted full operational autonomy to the investigating teams. Pannu maintained that the SITs are conducting their inquiries completely free of political interference to ensure a transparent legal conclusion for the people of Punjab.
