Chandigarh (July 27, 2012): The hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking removal of Sumedh Singh Saini as DGP of Punjab continues in Punjab and Haryana High Court. This petition is moved by NGO named Voices for Freedom (VFF). In recent hearing in the court the VFF counsel countered the allegations levelled by the state government against VFF and told the court that CBI had registered a case of murder and abduction against Sumedh Saini.
VFF has also raised questions over the appointment and promotion of Saini as DGP against the Supreme Court directions, given that he was facing a criminal trial.
Questioning the appointment of Saini as DGP despite facing criminal trial against him, the High Court Bench was surprised over the promotion and appointment of Saini.
The High Court has directed the state government to produce the record of promotion and appointment of Saini to ascertain if any other police officer was considered before appointing Saini as the DGP.
The court has set the next date of hearing on July 31, 2102.
Sumedh Saini faced CBI inquiry for extermination of Father, Uncle and friend of Professor Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, a Sikh political prisoner facing death sentence in India. CBI inquiry established that trio were picked up by Sumedh Saini, then SSP of Chandigarh, in 1991 and they were brutally tortured in custody. Later at the directions of Saini they were moved to Qadian police station and since then there are no known whereabouts of trio as they were exterminated in police custody by Sumedh Saini and others.
Saini is also accused for many other serious human rights violations, including the extermination of family members of Balwinder Singh Jattana of Ropar.
As per human rights organizations’ profiling Sumedh Saini is a known human rights abuser, who practised custodial torture, custodial killings, fake encounters, enforced disappearances at large-scale and as general policing practise.
His political affiliations and patronage by state system has protected him against any inquiry or trial. Even when the CBI found enough evidence against Sumedh Saini in Bullar family extermination case, in a thorough inquiry conducted after the orders of Punjab an Haryana High Court, the Supreme court of India stayed the case after registration of FIR and later quashed whole proceedings on technical grounds. SCI judges deliberately failed to take notice of facts brough into light by CBI inquiry or themselves order a fresh inquiry into the allegations of serious human rights violations against Saini.