Witnesses in the Shubhkaran Singh murder case in Haryana are afraid of appearing before an investigative panel

The next meeting of the three-person committee, which was established by Justice Jaishree Thakur of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after farmer Shubhkaran lost his life during the current demonstrations, will take place in Chandigarh. The judgment was made in response to concerns raised by the wounded and witnesses who appeared before the Haryana panel.

The witnesses and aggrieved parties feel uneasy about going to the commission’s location, which is in the state of Haryana. It has been requested that Punjab or Chandigarh be chosen as the location. Additionally, it is suggested that no more than thirty people appear to testify. The request seems to be fair. The commission’s next sessions will take place at Kisan Bhavan in Sector 35, Chandigarh, on May 6 at 2:30 p.m., the inquiry panel said.

In March, the High Court ordered the formation of a committee led by a retired judge to oversee the case, having previously said that Punjab and Haryana had several issues to hide.

The bench made up of Acting Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji had declared, “Keeping in view the facts and circumstances, this court is of the considered opinion that the investigation regarding the death of Shubhkaran cannot be entrusted solely either to Punjab or Haryana for obvious reasons as both the states have several things to cover up.”

It had also said that Punjab ADGP Parmod Ban and his Haryana counterpart Amitabh Singh Dhillon would support Justice Thakur, who would be leading the committee. The Bench had also said that the committee will first provide a report on the police agencies with authority over the death investigation.

This was crucial because the location of the incident and the death needed to be verified since one state was avoiding its obligations and the other was desperate to start the inquiry. The committee would also have jurisdiction over the manner of death, the kind of weapon, and the bullet or pellet.