Punjab: Pro-Khalistan outfit member Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, associates booked for sedition

The Punjab Police on Thursday registered two separate cases against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of the banned pro-Khalistan outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) and his associates on charges of sedition and secessionism.

The cases were registered at Amritsar and Kapurthala.

Pannun was among nine people designated as terrorists under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act by the Centre on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has designated Pannun a terrorist for actively running a secessionist campaign against India and motivating the Sikh youth from Punjab to join militant ranks.

The Dalit Suraksha Sena (DSS) had filed a complaint against Pannun and his associates, and got a case registered against him at a police station in Amritsar for allegedly burning the Indian Constitution and the National Flag besides instigating others to do so too.

In its complaint, the Dalit Suraksha Sena said Pannun, the self-styled legal advisor of the USA-based the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), and his accomplices were seen dishonouring the Indian Constitution and the National Flag in a video.

They were seen setting a copy of the Constitution and the flag on fire, while shouting slogans of Khalistan Zindabad, they said.

Pannun was also seen inciting the entire Sikh community against the Indian Constitution and in favour of the Referendum 2020, said the complaint.

The complaint said these abhorrent actions of the individuals in question had “brazenly dishonoured the ideals” on which the Indian state has been established and thereby had “hurt the sentiments” of the entire SC community.

Immediate action was necessitated in pursuance to the reception of the above complaint as Pannun and his associates were found to be involved in the “commission of seditious acts” through their actions and words, both spoken and written, thus attempting to create a communal divide as well as instigating disaffection towards the government established by law in India, said a spokesperson of the police department.

In addition, he and his associates have also committed unlawful activities, being members of a proscribed organisation and thus Pannun and his associates have committed offences punishable under relevant sections of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971; Indian Penal Code; UAPA and the SC/ST Act, the spokesperson said.

The second FIR registered at Bhulath in Kapurthala is based on reliable inputs of entry of Joginder Singh Gujjar, alias Goga, in India in February 2020, a police spokesperson said, adding that Pannu and his associates had been charged with seditious and secessionist activities in the case.

The spokesperson said it had been learnt that Joginder Singh is a prominent and active member of the banned SFJ.

Joginder Singh, at the behest of Pannun, with whom he is in regular contact for promoting the activities of the SFJ, was reportedly providing financial assistance to the organization operatives/activists based in Punjab/India and abroad, the spokesperson said.