Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh/New Delhi, June 1: The Punjab Congress President Mr Partap Singh Bajwa has demanded CBI probe into snooping by the Akali Dal government in the state against political adversaries, members of the media and other sections of society while seeking intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this sensitive issue.
In a letter to the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court with a copy to the Chief justice of the Supreme Court, Mr Bajwa said only a comprehensive and impartial investigation would unravel the manner and the extent to which the Chief Minister Mr Parkash Singh Badal and the Deputy Chief Minister Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal had converted Punjab into a police state by violating the constitution and the law with impunity.
He said what was alarming was that the state government was going in for the purchase of more sophisticated snooping and surveillance technology and equipment the purchase of which had been cleared by an empowered committee .The intended purchase of such sophisticated technology was indiscriminate eavesdropping of opposition leaders, judges and members of the media for the purposes of intimidation, browbeating, muzzling and arm-twisting by the ruling Akali-BJP alliance in the state.
He pointed out the state government a dubious track record with regard to the usage of such surveillance technology, which is routinely used to settle political scores and to promote the commercial interest of the ruling family.
He specifically referred to the case when the then Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice T.S. Thakur, who is now a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court, in an official communication to the then Chief Justice of india in January 2009 had unequivocally indicted the then Punjab Vigilance Bureau Director and the incumbent Director General of Police, Mr Sumedh Singh Saini, who incidentally is a member of the present empowered committee which authorized the purchase of this technology and equipment, for fabricating evidence against sitting Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court by indulging in snooping and surveillance activities.
He had indicated that this was being done as the judge concerned had directed CBI probe into a case of custodial killing against Mr Saini. This reinforced the apprehension to the extent to which the ruling dispensation in Punjab could go to intimidate and terrorize any section of society in order to achieve its mala fide intentions. Moreover, key members of the ruling family in the state were currently under the judicial scanner for several acts of commission and mission with regard to the drug trafficking racket, conflict of interest, Orbit bus case (Moga), Palanpur Eco Tourism resort case, etc.
He said given the fact that the assembly elections in the state were only a year and a half years away, the same might be used to alter a level playing field and to target key members of the opposition parties.
He called upon the Chief Justice to take suo motu cognizance of this critical issue by treating the letter as a public interest litigation and to further ensure that necessary procedural safeguards, were adopted and the officers entrusted with such technology and authorization were clearly to ensure that opposition leaders and members of the media and other sections of society are not terrorized, harassed and intimated.
