GILL COMMISSION SUBMITS 2ND INTERIM REPORT TO PUNJAB CM, IDENTIFIES 47 FALSE CASES INVOLVING POLITICAL VENDETTA

GILL COMMISSION SUBMITS 2ND INTERIM REPORT TO PUNJAB CM, IDENTIFIES 47 FALSE CASES INVOLVING POLITICAL VENDETTA

Nabaz-e-Punjab Bureau, Chandigarh, September 19:
The Justice (Retd) Mehtab Singh Gill Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday submitted to Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh its second interim report, which has found political vendetta involved in all the 47 cases identified by it as false.
The Commission has recommended cancellation of FIRs in 37 of these cases, while in four cases it has suggested compensation to accused acquitted by courts. In the remaining six, it has recommended other action, such as not to file challans in courts.
The Chief Minister has marked the report to the Home Secretary for detailed examination and further action, according to an official spokesperson.
The Commission, which had submitted its first interim report, relating to 172 of the total 4200 cases/complaints received by it, on August 23, was constituted by the Captain Amarinder government on April 5, 2017 under The Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952. It was entrusted the task to investigate the alleged false cases/FIRs registered during the erstwhile Badal regime.
Former District and Sessions Judge B S Mehandiratta is a member of the Commission, set up to “inquire into the cases where persons are said to have been wrongly implicated in allegedly false cases/ FIRs in the state of Punjab during last 10 years and submit its report to government after such inquiry.” The Commission was tasked to recommend to the government measures to be adopted to ensure that for future, such instances do not happen. It has an initial tenure of six months, to be extended by the government when so required.
Giving details of the second interim report, the official spokesperson said the 47 false cases/FIRs contained in List 3 relate to those in which complaints have been accepted and recommendations made by the Commission. In these cases, the final report under Section 173 of the CrPC has not been presented so far and the accused have been acquitted by the courts etc.
With regard to serial numbers 1-37 in this list, the Commission has recommended to the Home and Judicial Department to make requests to courts in a legal and proper manner for cancellation of the FIRs. The cancellation has been recommended after taking orders from the appropriate court.

For serial numbers 38-41, it has recommended payment of compensation to accused acquitted by courts, with the same to be recovered from the Investigating Officer (IO), along with prosecution of first informant/certain police officers, u/s 82 IPC, with action to be taken accordingly. In cases 42-47, action as recommended should be taken, which could include not presenting the challan against the accused-applicant in the court.
List 2 submitted by Gill to the Chief Minister as part of the second interim report relates to the 59 complaints dismissed outright by the Commission as being frivolous and not meriting consideration as they related to personal civil disputes, ranging from matrimonial to property, and did not fall into its jurisdiction. The Commission did not go into these complaints, in many of which challans had already been filed or the case was pending in court, as these were not found to be politically motivated. The Commission, in the second phase, had examined a total of 106 complaints.
The decision to set up such a Commission was taken at the first cabinet meeting of the Captain Amarinder government. Captain Amarinder Singh had, during his election campaign, promised the people of Punjab that his government would inquire into all such false cases to ensure justice for the innocent. He had also promised that all those found guilty of implicating innocent people in fake cases would be brought to book.
The promise, which followed numerous complaints by victims of such cases to Captain Amarinder during the electioneering, was also incorporated in the Congress manifesto. Captain Amarinder had received several complaints of false cases being registered against the political opponents of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in connivance with the district police officials.