SFJ chief booked by Punjab Police for promoting extremism with 'intent to cause riots'

In a fresh development, the Punjab Police's cyber crime cell has registered a case against Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) chief Gurpatwant Pannu over allegations of provoking Indians and Punjabis through his social media content. As per the latest information accessed by Republic TV, a case has been registered in the State Cyber Police Station of Mohali and an investigation has been initiated in the matter.

Notably, this comes after Vikas Bhatia, Inspector of State Cyber Crime Station had lodged a complaint against the SFJ chief on the grounds of provoking violent extremism and further triggering violence with an intent to cause riots.

Notably, this is not the first time that Gurpatwant Pannu has been accused of carrying out anti-national activities and endangering safety and hampering the peace and law and order in the country. 

The Gurugram police in April 2022 had also launched a case against the group for allegedly calling to separate the state of Punjab from India. The case was registered following a video message which was shared on social media and Pannu was seen speaking in a bid to spread hatred against India. 

In the video, he also urged Sikhs to hoist Khalistani flats on the offices of Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents in Haryana further claiming that Haryana is also a part of Punjab and will soon become Khalistan.

SFJ's provocative activities

A pro-Khalistan group, Sikhs for Justice, is a US-based advocacy group headed by lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannu and is seen engaging frequently in promoting Khalistan ideology and threatening leaders. The group's name recently came to light following a series of disturbances in Punjab and other parts of the country. 

Earlier in May, Khalistan flags were seen tied to the gates of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly in Dharamshala following which Gurpatwant Pannu was named as the 'main accused' in the matter. In addition to that, Pannu had also taken the responsibility for the rocket-propelled grenade attack that took place at the Punjab Intelligence headquarters in Mohali. 

In July 2021, he had also threatened the Himachal Pradesh chief minister to not hoist the tricolour on Independence Day following which a case was also registered against him. 

In a recent, the banned Khalistani outfit issued a fresh threat to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asking him to "learn" from the assassination of former CM Beant Singh and thus stating that he should withdraw para-military forces from Sri Darbar Sahib.

Pannu had also asked the Punjab CM to "be ready to face consequences as Beant Singh did."

Image: Twitter/@GurpatwantSinghPannu