Amritsar: A local court on Monday dropped criminal proceedings against 21 members of radical outfit Dal Khalsa, facing prosecution for raising pro-Khalistan slogans in June 2005 on eve of Operation Bluestar anniversary.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Ranjeet Kaur dropped the proceedings against the Dal Khalsa members in wake of the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently quashing the sedition charges against them.
Dal Khalsa president H S Dhami and spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh were among 21 booked by Amritsar police on June 8, 2005 for allegedly giving "provocative" speeches and inciting people.
They were booked under sections 124-A (sedition), 153-A, 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration), 188 of the IPC.
The high court earlier had quashed the charges against them on a plea filed by them in February 2010.
They had contended in their plea that the allegation made in the FIR were factually incorrect as they had never raised the slogans and produced a recording of TV channel of the procession showing that no such slogans were raised.
Among those against whom charges have been quashed included HS Dhami, Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib, Kanwarpal Singh, Sarabjit Singh Ghuman, Balraj Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Arpal Singh, Baldev Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Giani Amrik Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Sarwan Singh and Avtar Singh.
PTI
