Petition against Punjab DGP dismissed

After reserving its judgment for over two months, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed against the appointment of Sumedh Singh Saini as Punjab`s DGP.

Chandigarh: After reserving its judgment for over two months, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed against the appointment of Sumedh Singh Saini as Punjab`s Director General of Police (DGP).

A division bench of Chief Justice Arun Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) in this regard. The bench had reserved its judgment Feb 4. The petition was filed by an NGO, Voices for Freedom, April 2012. However, while rejecting the claim of the NGO, the high court had taken suo moto notice of the issue saying that the issue was of "substantial importance". The petition had challenged the appointment of Saini as the DGP by the Punjab government March, 2012 saying he had criminal cases pending against him in various courts. The petition had pointed out that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had charge-sheeted Saini and others on serious charges like abduction for murder, wrongful restraint and criminal conspiracy. Three people, including two businessmen of Ludhiana were abducted in the city. Their whereabouts were never known and their family suspected that they were killed. The family had accused senior Punjab police officers for involvement in the incident. IANS