Chandigarh, July 4, 2011;Punjab Chief Minister S. Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal, in their recent meeting with The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh may have discussed the host of issues but their talks were certainly not focused to get the death penalty awarded to Prof. Devinderpal Singh Bhuller commuted to life imprisonment. If they had petitioned for the review of the mercy petition of Prof. Devinderpal Singh Bhuller which has been rejected by the President despite the fact that the Bench of the Supreme Court has delivered a split judgment 2-1. One of the judges on the bench has clearly acquitted Prof. Bhuller.It’s unfortunate that no tangible action has appeared to have been taken and there seems to be no actionable movement of the file that pertains to Prof. Bhuller, from the Prime Minister’s office to Home Ministry after the meeting of the Punjab CM and DY.C.M with the Prime Minister. This kind of inaction and insensitivity has raised many eyebrows and speaks volumes of apathy in the matter.
If the Chief Minister Punjab has handed over some petition to the Prime Minister that should be made public, so that people must know what transpired in the meeting and as to what position Mr. Parkash Singh Badal has taken on the issue of Prof. Devinderpal Singh Bhuller. The other day a deputation led by Jathedar Avtar Singh Makkar President SGPC has submitted a memorandum to one of the official of the Punjab Raj Bhawan, instead of the Governor Punjab. Such non-seriousness was witnessed in the whole exercise that SGPC announced the programme to submit the petition to the Governor, without even confirming the availability of the Governor on that Particular day in the Raj Bhawan. So many people were collected at Gurdwara Amb Sahib Mohali in a toiling heat to meet the Governor. If SGPC has tackle such a matter of serious concern of the entire Sikh community in such a casual fashion than I am afraid they are doing more harm to the cause. There has to be a calibrated approach to the issue and all efforts should certainly be synergized under one umbrella to focus upon the issue, before it is too late. Therefore Transparency and the larger interest of the Sikh community demands that the petition papers submitted by the Chief Minister Punjab and Deputy Chief Minister to the Prime Minister with regard to Prof. Devinderpal Singh Bhuller, must be in the Public domain. If their only focused concern was the SGPC elections, none else even than the clear position should emerge, so that no one is kept in dark.
(Bir Devinder Singh is author of this article, he is Former Deputy Speaker, Punjab)