A local court in Sonipat on Monday directed the Haryana police to furnish a reply on invoking the Arms Act against the accused in the Singhu border murder case for wielding swords. All the four accused were remanded to judicial custody till November 8.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Arvind Kumar directed the police to file a reply within a week’s time on pressing charges under the Arms Act against the accused for using swords to commit the crime. “Since Nihang Sikhs are allowed to keep swords as per their religion, the court has directed the police to file a reply on the imposition of the Arms Act in the case,” said Yogesh, the counsel for the accused.
The court also directed the police to drop charges under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against three of the four accused since they belonged to a Scheduled Caste. “Except Govind Preet, the court has directed to drop charges against the three accused under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” said Mr. Yogesh.
Virender Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Law and Order, Sonipat, said the accused had identified more suspects in the case during their police remand and more arrests could not be ruled out.
He, however, said charges under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were invoked in the First Information Report (FIR) since the accused were not named.
Lakhbir Singh, a resident of Punjab’s Tarn Taran, was found dead near the farmers’ protest site at the Singhu border in Sonipat, Haryana, on October 15, tied to a police barricade with his wrist and leg severed.
Of the four accused, Sarabjit Singh, was the first to surrender in the case a few hours after the murder. A day after his arrest three more accused in the case— Narain Singh, Bhagwant Singh and Govind Preet — had surrendered before the police.
