Judgment

KHALID, L: - The petitioners in these cases are accused in a murder case registered as FIR No. 162 dated 5th September, 1983. The matter is now pending before the Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class,. Ludhiana, for committal proceedings.

2. Transfer Petition No. 16 of 1986 and Special Leave Petition 491 of 1986 are by D. R. Bhatti, Commandant, 7th Battalion Punjab Armed Police, Jalandhar Cantonment, Punjab, the first accused in the case. Transfer Petition No. 91 of 1986 is by six other accused, two of whom are Sub-Inspectors and two Head-Constables. These persons along with 9 others are accused of murder on 13-8-1983. of Dalip Singh and three others.

3. The petitioners have directly come to this Court with these transfer petitions without approaching either the Sessions Judge or the High Court. The reason why they have done so is given in the transfer petition filed by D. R. Bhatti. It has been stated in the petition that a volatile situation exists in Punjab and that he is the prime target of the extremists. The alleged incident took place on August 13/14, 1983. An F.I.R. was lodged on September 5,1983. The C. B. I. filed a challan on December 31, 1985 when alone his name was given for the first time as a conspirator.

4. The petitioner has stated as follows. He joined the Indian Police in the year 1970. He was posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ferozpur, in the year 1972. wherefrom he went to Ludhiana in the year 1973. He was promoted as Superintendent of Police in the year 1975. He served at several stations in this capacity. In May, 1981, he was posted as Senior Superintendent of Police at Ludhiana.

5. Warrants of arrest were issued against the late Bhindranwale in connection with the murder of Lala Jagat Narain. The petitioner was entrusted with the task of execution of the warrant of arrest. He proceeded to execute the warrant with a police party under the supervision of the then DIG, Patiala range. Resistance was offered by the late Bhindranwale and his men by opening fire and in the exchange of fire Shri Bhindranwale escaped. Various allegations were made against the petitioner in relation to that incident, including the one that religious books were burnt.

6. Under pressure from the late Shri Bhindranwale, a Commission of Enquiry was appointed under the Chairmanship of Justice Gurnam Singh, a retired Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The enquiry proceedings were challenged before the High Court pursuant to which the proceedings remained stayed and the Commission of Enquiry was finally abandoned. Shri Bhindranwale harboured personal grouse and animosity against the petitioner.

He incited his followers to kill him. The animosity increased when on September 20, 1981, the petitioner arrested Shri Bhindranwale and interrogated him. He was subsequently released. It is stated in the petition that subsequent to this, various attempts were made by extremists on the life of the petitioner.

7. In April, 1983, a party of five persons attempted to assassinate him. They were intercepted and fired upon. In June, 1983, a parcel was received by the petitioner containing a live HE-36 grenade which had been sent to him from Amritsar. On the same day, there had been two similar other parcels which had exploded in the office of the daily newspaper Veer Pratap at Jalandhar and the house of D.S.P. Shri Gurbachan Singh at Amritsar. On September 21, 1983, while the petitioner was alighting from his car in front of his office he was fired upon. He received bullet injuries. Due to the said injuries he was hospitalised and had to undergo treatment for four months. After this he was posted as Commandant of the 7th Battalion, Punjab Police. In June, 1984, he was again posted as Senior Superintendent of Police at Ludhiana. At Ludhiana attempts by extremists continued to kill him. There was an unsuccessful attempt to poison him by his own constable, Harjit Singh who was subsequently murdered by the extremists. The petitioner wa