This Article is From Nov 16, 2015

Rahul Gandhi to Meet President Over Punjab Shooting Deaths

Rahul Gandhi to Meet President Over Punjab Shooting Deaths

Protests had flared last month in Punjab and highways were blocked for almost a fortnight following incidents of desecration of the holy book.

Chandigarh: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will lead a 21-member party delegation to visit President Pranab Mukherjee and demand a probe into the police firing that left two people dead in Punjab's Faridkot last month.

The Congress leader will demand a "time-bound probe" by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into the "unprovoked police" firing on people protesting incidents of desecration of the Sikh Holy Book, party leaders said.

Congress state unit chief Mr Pratap Singh Bajwa said the delegation would include top Congress leaders and all sitting Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members from Punjab.

Mr Bajwa said the First Information Report registered in the case was inadequate as no accused responsible for firing had been named. "It amounts to hoodwinking the people," he said.

Mr Gandhi during his recent visit to the home of families of the two firing victims Gurmit Singh and Krishan Bhagwan Singh, had promised to take up the case "at the highest level" in the country.

The police had allegedly opened fire on people sitting on a protest against the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari village of Faridkot district in which two persons were killed and 37 others injured.

Protests had flared last month in Punjab and highways were blocked for almost a fortnight following incidents of desecration of the holy book.

The government run by the Akali Dal and BJP had struggled to contain anger among Sikh radical organisations.
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