Capt Amarinder Singh implements Akali Dal’s 1996 manifesto, fresh case filed against Sumedh Saini

“The police Raj would be put to an end. Those police officers who misused their positions to commit excesses and indulged in blatant corruption would be punished. The victims of police excesses would be fully compensated.  Innocent people under detention under black laws like TADA would be released.”

Thus stated the manifesto of the Shiromani Akali Dal for the Lok Sabha elections in 1996.

This clause of the manifesto now has virtually been implemented by the government headed by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh with the registration of a fresh FIR against the former all-powerful Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini in the case of forced disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani 29 years back.

The case has now been filed on the complaint submitted by Balwant’s brother Palwinder Singh Multani.

Balwant, an official with the Chandigarh administration, was son of Punjab IAS officer Darshan Singh Multani.

The case has a chequered history. Earlier, the Supreme Court had provided relief to Sani in December 2011  in this very case.

“The Supreme Court today quashed the CBI case against Punjab’s Vigilance Bureau chief Sumedh Singh Saini for the “elimination” of three persons in 1991…. Holding that it was biased…The SC gave this ruling on appeals filed by the Punjab government as well as Saini, challenging the HC orders”. (The Tribune, December 8, 2011).

The case related to the forced disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani, Balwant Singh Bhullar and Manjit Singh. Bhullar and Manjit Singh were father and maternal uncle of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, now out of jail on parole.

Their disappearance coincided with the abortive attack on the life of Saini who was then Chandigarh’s senior superintendent of police on deputation from Punjab.

It was first suspected to be an action carried out by Balwinder Singh Jatana of the Babbar Khalsa and his entire family was eliminated within hours of the attack on Saini.  These three were picked up when the name of Devinder Pal Singh Bullar and his organisation surfaced. The responsibility for the attack was taken by four militant organisations but the press note was released by the Khalistan Liberation Force of which Bhullar was the part.

Balwant Singh Multani was a friend of Bhullar.  

The FIR filed at  Mataur police station in Mohali at 6.23 pm on May 6, 2020 states:

““On December 11, 1991, a Chandigarh Police party headed by DSP Baldev Singh Saini raided and picked up Balwant Singh Multani, son of Darshan Singh Multani, from house number 1741, Phase VI, Mohali. He was kept in illegal custody till December 13, 1991, by the Chandigarh Police…”

“He was tortured in the presence of Saini and his men inter-alia to know the whereabouts of Devinderpal Singh Bhullar. Balwant Singh Multani was also found in the custody of Police Station, Sector 17, Chandigarh, on December 17/18, 1991, in a bad condition and he was not able to walk and talk freely.”

“In police records, it is shown that Balwant Singh Multani was taken to Police Station, Qadian in Punjab, on December 18, 1991, by Sub Inspector Jagir Singh and party for tracing and arresting Navneet Singh. He was lodged in the police station lockup and he escaped from custody in the night. The whereabouts of Balwant Singh Multani is not known since then.”

Besides Saini, others who have been named in the FIR include DSP Baldev Singh Saini, SI Satvir Singh, SI Har Sahai and three others.

Saini was attacked in Sector 17 on August 29, 1991.

It is the registration of the case that is important at this stage. It is a different matter that the FIR may not be taken to the logical conclusion going by the track record of the cases against Saini that have not proceeded. The complainant in another case relating to the period when Sani was the SSP in Ludhiana died earlier. That case is being tried in a Delhi court.

Saini is one of the “heroes” in the fight against militancy in Punjab.

Besides the 1996 promise, one has to go back to the common minimum programme released by the Akali Dal-BJP alliance for the 1997 Assembly elections. It promised, “The civil liberties of the people will be protected. We will set up a special commission of inquiry, headed by a retired judge, to expose the Congress hand behind the violence in Punjab”.

Parkash Singh Badal, when questioned on August 8, 1997 after he became the chief minister on the implementation of poll promise of judicial probe, conveniently backtracked saying “we should look to the future”.

The two police officers who were favourites of the Badal government during the two terms from 2007 to 2017 were Mohammed Izhar Alam who was admitted to the Akali Dal and Saini who was elevated as the state police chief, the post he was holding at the time of the Bargari sacrilege. Alam was the Jalandhar SSP during Nakodar police firing in which four Sikh protesters were killed in 1986.

As quoted by the Hindustan Times, Saini’s reaction to the registration of the fresh case is interesting. He said: “What comments are required when a chief minister joins hands with anti-national elements to settle personal scores for having him booked for corruption?”

Any reaction from the Akali Dal to at least Saini’s comments in the context of Capt Amarinder Singh fulfilling the 1996 poll promise of the that party?

Capt Amarinder Singh was part of the Akali Dal when that party made this promise in 1996.