Bathinda: A Supreme Court bench has cancelled anticipatory bail granted by the Punjab and Haryana high court to two accused in a case of clash involving two communities. As per sources, the issue is linked to draining out of sewerage water in Faridkot’s Chandbhan village. The court has ordered the two accused, Gamdoor Singh and Harwinder Singh, to surrender to the police within 15 days. Earlier, a case was registered under charges of attempt to murder, Arms Act and SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act 1989, on Feb 10, 2025. A bench of the high court had granted them anticipatory bail. The members of SC community later filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the grant of anticipatory bail. A video clip of the incident had gone viral on February 5, 2025, wherein one man was seen firing at a group of people. The bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice K Vinod Chandran, cancelled the anticipatory bail on March 9. The order was uploaded on March 11. The court, in its order, observed that a prima facie case has been made out against the respondents in the appeals under the Act of 1989. The court made it clear that it is not the video footage that persuaded the court to come to this conclusion, “but it has fortified our findings on the other aspects, which we hasten to add are prima facie in nature and would not in any manner govern the trial.” The court also observed that in the present case, the statement of various persons examined by the police, including that of the appellants, specifically indicates casteist slurs, alongside attempt to create a riot, with the marginalized section of the village being pitted against the upper caste. “That the FIR does not contain an allegation of casteist slurs is very clear, but in the facts of the present case, the high court ought to have been more cautious in examining the records before granting anticipatory bail,” the SC bench said.Last year, a clash broke out at Chandbhan village in Faridkot over the discharge of dirty water in the village. Some locals and cops were also injured in stone pelting.
