'Bittu's acquittal confirms he was implicated in false case'

JALANDHAR: After acquittal of former Akali Dal Panch Pardhani leader Daljit Singh Bittu in a case registered under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in 2012, Dal Khalsa has said that it exposed the designs of the ruling leaders of Punjab to implicate political dissenters in false cases.
Slamming deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who holds charge of home department also, Dal Khalsa leaders said that he allegedly misused the police machinery to stifle the voice and jeopardise the political career of Daljit Singh by implicating him in totally false case under flimsy charges.
To drive their point home, the organization leaders quoted the findings of US based Human Rights Watch South Asia Director Meenakshi Ganguly saying that India routinely used vaguely worded laws such as sedition and criminal defamation as political tools to stifle dissent.
Ludhiana police had booked Daljit Singh under UAPA and Explosive Act in 2012. On Tuesday the court of additional session judge Sandeep Singh Bajwa in Ludhiana acquitted Daljit Singh and others as the prosecution failed to prove the allegations made in the charge-sheet.
Former Dal Khalsa head H S Dhami and senior activist Kanwar Pal Singh said that the case against Daljit Singh was motivated by other than legal reasons. He had to remain behind bars for sixteen months before he got bail from High Court in March 2014 and during investigation he was subjected to torture, they said.
At the time of his arrest, he was heading the political party Akali dal (Panch Pardani). "He was a political dissenter and was inconvenient to the present establishment of Punjab and was made to suffer without any fault,” they said.
“His acquittal exposed the working of the Punjab Police as it had become just a tool in the hands of the political masters,” they added. Meanwhile they appreciated the HRW for raising its concern about the “dismal” human rights situation in India.