Faridkot, August 24: Haryana Sikh Gurdwara management committee (HSGMC) member Baba Baljit Singh Daduwal, who was in the police remand since August 22 under Arms Act, was sent to judicial custody for 12 days by the duty magistrate on Sunday. Earlier the local court had declined plea of Faridkot Police for further police remand.
Daduwal’s wife, Sukhmeet Kaur who was at the court complex with her six-month-old son, led a large crowd of followers to protest against Faridkot police for not allowing them to meet her husband. She alleged that besides reopening old cases, the police was also harrasing him by framing new cases against him in order to keep him inside jail for having supported the HSGMC. Ever since my husband expressed solidarity with the HSGMC, he has been hounded by the police on the directions of the state government and SGPC leaders,” she alleged. She pointed out that after her husband’s arrest at Gurdwara Jandalisar near Kotshamir in Bathinda, the SGPC, with the help of the police, had wrested control of the gurdwara.
Duty magistrate-cum-judicial magistrate first class (JMIC) also declined to entertain request of Bhikhi (Mansa) police to sent Daduwal on transit remand. More than a 100 followers of Daduwal were waiting for him on the courts complex but police whisked away Daduwal without allowing anyone to come near him. Perturbed over this, they raised slogans against the police, SGPC and the state government.
According to Kulinder Singh Sekhon, Daduwal’s counsel, Punjab Police demanded further police remand to recover AK47 and scrutinize his bank accounts but the court declined it and sent him in judicial custody till September 6.
A case under attempt to murder registered in 2011 is also pending against Daduwal in Bhikhi police station of Mansa. Daduwal was earlier sent to one-day remand on Saturday but police failed to recover the weapon.
Source: TNS