High Court updates
On March 28, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the Punjab government to submit its records regarding SS Virk’s charge sheet.
SS Virk was appointed Punjab’s Director-General of Police in February 2005 amid controversy over his role in cases of torture and extrajudicial executions. In addition, the Union Government issued a charge sheet against him in 2004 for refusing to leave Punjab when his term of deputation ended.
Simranjit Singh Mann, President of the Akali Dal (Amritsar), has opposed Virk’s appointment because of his past unlawful acts. In February, Mann petitioned the High Court to challenge the appointment on the grounds that an officer with a charge sheet against him cannot be appointed Director-General of Police.
In other Punjab news, the High Court confirmed the bail granted to Tarna Dal chief Ajit Singh Poohla in a murder case. The case against him was registered in 2004 concerning an incident in 2001.
In his petition, Phoola alleged that he was being framed because of his “proximity with Punjab senior police officer Sumedh Singh Saini”, who is “not on good terms with another police officer.”
He has been framed in two other murder cases because of the same reason, his counsel alleged.
Poohla has been involved in several disappearances, and kin of survivors of the disappeared have maintained that he aided the police in the disappearances or extrajudicial executions of at least seven people. The Poohla Nihang Eviction Panel has called for information to help prosecute Poohla.
Explore posts in the same categories: Punjab