Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday cautioned SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on spreading rumours against the Punjab government for indiscriminate use of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
“If there is any specific instance of wrongful arrest or registration of a case by Punjab Police under the UAPA, as Sukhbir claimed, he should send me a list of the same instead of making unnecessary noise,” said the Chief Minister, adding: “There was no question of falsely implicating anyone.” Pointing out that UAPA had been in existence for long, the CM said that under the SAD-BJP regime, more than 60 cases under UAPA had been registered in Punjab, of which 19 were in 2010 and 12 in 2017. Of the 225 individuals arrested in these cases, 120 were acquitted or discharged, indicating that the Akalis had done indiscriminate application of UAPA during their tenure, he observed. Captain Amarinder lashed out at the SAD chief saying that Sukhbir was trying to compromise the interests of Punjab with his politically motivated propaganda against the Punjab Police, particularly the DGP, whose professional and secular credentials were above board. “It was shocking that Sukhbir, who was leading a party that claimed to be the custodians of Sikhism, was protesting against the Punjab Police’s fight against separatist and terrorist activities designed to divide the Sikhs into communal lines”, he added.