After Badal, witnesses start turning hostile in Jagir case too

PATIALA: Indian justice dispensing machinery starts to crumble as soon as the prosecuted come to power, thanks to a skewed electoral process that survives and thrives in the name of democracy. Just as it happened in the case of corruption against the Badals, witnesses in the case of murder against former SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur have also started turning hostile one after the other. The three which turned hostile also included SGPC's former secretary Gurbachan Singh Bachan. During his examination in the court of Sessions Judge Inderjeet Singh Walia last week, Bachan said he was not examined by the CBI that investigated the high profile murder and his statement was not recorded by the investigating agency either.

He refuted the CBI's claims that he had given a mobile phone number of Bibi Jagir Kaur when Harpreet died under mysterious circumstances. As per the CBI probe, Bibi Jagir Kaur had issued instructions to her confidants to eliminate her daughter. Harpreet was cremated on April 21, 2004, and her ashes were immersed the same day. Bachan said it was all as per the Sikh Rehat Maryada. Referring to the mobile phone number, Bachan told the court that it was allotted to SGPC assistant secretary Kirpal Singh Chauhan, who during those days was heading the SGPC sub office in Chandigarh. Defence lawyer Satnam Singh Kler examined the witnesses, including Punjab Police  constable Nirmal Singh, who was posted at Bholath police station during those days.

Nirmal Singh told the court that at the time of the cremation he was deputed close to the pyre where Harpreet's body was placed. Changing his previous statement in the court, he said everyone was allowed to pay respects to the body and a number of people were close to the pyre when it was being lit. He backtracked from his statement to the CBI and claimed that people were allowed near the pyre even after it was lit.

Kulwinder Singh, a local journalist from Bholath, was also examined. Changing his stand, he told the court that the police never stopped anyone from going near the pyre and journalists were allowed to take pictures. The CBI got all three witnesses declared hostile.