Bhog ceremony to be organised in Burial jail

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday directed the Burail jail authorities here to organise a special ''bhog ceremony’ on May 23 within the jail precincts for the departed mother of Lakhwinder Singh, one of the accused in the conspiracy and assassination on August 31, 1995 of the then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in front of the civil secretariat here.
The orders were passed by the Chief Justice Binod Kumar Roy on the petition preferred by Lakhwinder Singh seeking to be sent to his house in Guru Nanak Nagar at Patiala to enable him to attend the ''bhog ceremony'' (last rites) of his mother who died some days back. His similar plea had been turned down by the special judge conducting the trial of Beant Singh''s assassination case.
The special public prosecutor cum-standing counsel for the central bureau of investigations (CBI) Rajan Gupta who had been asked by the court to appear in the case, referred to the rather sensitive scenario prevailing since the jail break in January this year when three prime accused and an accomplice managed to escape from the high security jail. The CBI counsel also pointed out that the security risk involved in taking the accused and to bring him back to the jail, despite elaborate police arrangement, could not be over-emphasised.
In addition to this, there could be risk to the life of the petitioner-accused, besides the possible risk of escape, Gupta added and argued that these factors need to be taken into consideration while taking any decision on the petitioner''s prayer for taking him to Patiala.
After examining various aspects of the matter and the submissions of the CBI counsel, the Chief Justice while disposing of the petition directed the holding of the ''bhog ceremony'' in the Gurdwara located within the jail here, to be participated by five relatives besides the priest.