A Punjab government spokesperson on Sunday made it clearthat the 6-month time-frame for the new SIT to conclude the investigation intothe Kotkapura firing case was not set by the state government but by the HighCourt.
The new Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted bythe state government on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, wasnot, however, barred by the court to complete the probe earlier, even withintwo months if possible, said the spokesperson.
Pointing to the High Court order dated April 9, 2021, thespokesperson observed that as per Direction (vii), “the investigation of these FIRs shall beconcluded as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of sixmonths from the date of the constitution of SIT”. This court direction has beensimply reproduced in the SIT re-constitution notification issued by the stategovernment, which has been specifically barred from interfering in any manner,as per Direction (ii) and (iv) of the order, said the spokesperson.
As evident from the court directive, the period of 6 monthsis an upper/outer limit which has been imposed by the High Court, thespokesperson pointed out, adding that the SIT is free to conclude investigationbefore that.
Reacting to criticism of the government on the 6-monthdeadline, the spokesperson said it was clear that the notification, and theintent, of the state government had been misread and misconstrued by certainelements, motivated by vested political interests.
The Captain Amarinder led government, said thespokesperson, is totally committed to ensuring a free and fair investigationinto the incident, to ensure justice for the innocent and punishment for theguilty. In accordance with this commitment, the state government had set up thenew SIT instead of merely contesting the court’s decision to quash the earlierSIT’s investigations, he added.
The new SIT has the clear mandate to start work immediatelyand take the investigations to their logical conclusion, with total compliancewith the directions of the High Court, which has stipulated that there would benot interference from any quarter, external or internal, in the investigationprocess. Any deviation from the court orders will only make the SIT vulnerableto action against it by the courts, which would merely delay the whole processinstead of expediting it, the spokesperson further noted.
The spokesperson further said that the SIT had alreadyconducted its first meeting virtually on May 8, a day after it was constituted,and started the process of investigations by summoning the case file and otherrelevant records from the Faridkot court.