Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday appealed to protesters to lift the blockade on the Bathinda-Amritsar national highway in Faridkot, assuring them justice in the eight-year-old incidents of sacrilege and subsequent police firing. On February 5, various Sikh organisations along with the family members of the victim of Behbal Kalan police firing blocked the national highway in Faridkot for an indefinite period, seeking justice in the 2015 incidents. Mann said the blockade was causing inconvenience to commuters.
"Punjab government is fully committed to provide justice in the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan sacrilege cases. I appeal to the public (protesters) that they should open the national highway at Behbal Kalan so people should not have inconvenience," he said in a tweet in Punjabi. "It is the responsibility and duty of the government to ensure speedy justice by punishing the guilty," he added. Being led by Krishan Bhagwan's son Sukhraj Singh, the protesters under the banner of 'Beadbi Insaaf Morcha' had accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of not ensuring justice in the matter.
Singh was protesting in Behbal Kalan since December 16, 2021. The incidents related to the theft of a 'bir' (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib, handwritten sacrilegious posters, and pages of the holy book being torn at Bargari in Faridkot had taken place in 2015.
These incidents had triggered protests during which two people - Gurjeet Singh and Krishan Bhagwan Singh - were killed at Behbal Kalan and few injured at Kotkapura in police firing. (PTI)
