Wisconsin court issues summons to Badal over rights violations

JALANDHAR: A Wisconsin court in America has issued summons to Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is currently visiting the US, on a lawsuit filed by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a human rights group, and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar).
The lawsuit accuses Badal of allegedly shielding police officers, who it claims are responsible for extra-judicial killings in Punjab.
The summons for Badal have been issued by district court for the eastern district of Wisconsin on August 8, giving him 21 days to answer the charges of torture, practice of impunity to police officers responsible for extra-judicial killings and continuous human rights violations of Sikhs in Punjab.
The lawsuit has alleged that during Badal's tenure (from 1997 to 2002 and from 2007 till date) there have been several hundred cases of extra-judicial killings, police tortures and human rights violations, but not even a single police officer in charge and responsible for the such killings has been investigated or prosecuted by the Badal administration.
The lawsuit has also questioned Punjab government's decision to appoint Sumedh Singh Saini as the DGP of the state police department.
The lawsuit has also cited the recent killings of four youths in Punjab namely Jaspal Singh in 2012, Sohan Singh in 2011, Shaminder Singh Shera in 2011 and Darshan Singh in 2009 as extra-judicial.
SFJ legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun alleged that Badal was not only protecting the past acts of police torture and extra-judicial killings committed during 1984-1997, but also continuing with blatant human rights violations and acts of torture by police and other security forces under his command.
Three activists of SAD (Amritsar) -- Jeet Singh, his wife Gurdeep Kaur and Jagtar Singh -- are also among the petitioners. All three have alleged in the lawsuit that they were tortured in police custody at various times during Badal's regime in Punjab.