Punjab High Court Calls for Update on Gulzar Singh Suicide Investigation as Political Heat Rises

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, sitting in Chandigarh, issued a simple yet firm directive on Wednesday: the state government must file a status report on the ongoing probe into the death of Gulzar Singh. The court did not issue a formal notice; instead, it asked for a clear picture of what has been done so far and what steps are pending.

Gulzar Singh, a resident of Sangrur and a member of the Valmiki community, took his own life in early September after he said he was harassed for daring to confront a minister about Punjab’s spiralling drug problem. According to relatives, Singh had challenged the minister during a public meeting that focused on his son’s addiction, and was subsequently pressured by local officials to apologise for speaking out.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra raised a puzzling question – how could a sitting minister be named as an accused in the case? The bench noted that a village sarpanch and several other locals have already been charged, and it now awaits the government’s written update before deciding the next course of action.

DSP Dirba Rupinder Kaur Bajwa, who is handling the investigation, echoed the court’s expectations. “The Chief Justice has asked for two things: first, a status report, and second, that the investigation be carried out properly and without any bias,” she said.

The episode has reignited the political tinderbox in Punjab. Senior Congress leader and MLA Pargat Singh took to the media, accusing the ruling Aam Aadmi Party of turning the state into a “police state” and alleging a covert alliance with the BJP to suppress dissent on the drug issue. He criticized Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for failing to deliver on his election promise of eradicating narcotics within months.

This report is based on a syndicated feed from Asianet News; the editorial team has not made any changes to the original story.