Atishi video row Punjab Congress claims FIR filed against its MLAs Sukhpal Khaira Pargat Singh

Chandigarh, Jan 9 (PTI) The Punjab Congress on Friday claimed that an FIR has been registered against its MLAs Sukhpal Khaira and Pargat Singh for sharing a video clip of AAP leader Atishi, whom the BJP has accused of making derogatory remarks against the ninth Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur.
    Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, termed the “FIR lodged by the Jalandhar police against Pargat Singh and Sukhpal Khaira” a blatant abuse of state power and a shameful attempt to divert attention from a serious issue.
    "AAP Punjab leadership has chosen the cowardly path of intimidation and political vendetta. Under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Punjab Police is being misused to harass the opposition lawmakers rather than being deployed to restore law and order in the state,” Bajwa said in a late evening X post.
    “Let it be made absolutely clear: intimidation will not break our resolve,” he added. Notably, the Jalandhar Police Commissionerate on Friday filed an FIR in connection with uploading and circulating an “edited” and “doctored” video of AAP MLA Atishi in the Delhi Assembly.
    Using the clip, Delhi BJP leaders, including Law Minister Kapil Mishra, alleged on Tuesday that Atishi insulted Guru Tegh Bahadur in the Assembly during a debate on a programme organised by the Delhi government to mark the 350th martyrdom day of the ninth Sikh Guru last November.
    An official statement quoting a spokesperson of the Jalandhar Police Commissionerate said that an FIR under relevant provisions of law has been registered on the complaint of one Iqbal Singh against “uploading and circulating an edited and doctored video of Atishi”, the leader of opposition in the Delhi Assembly.
    “Several social media posts containing a short video clip showing Atishi allegedly making derogatory and blasphemous remarks against (Sikh) Gurus with highly inflammatory captions have been uploaded on social media platforms,” the spokesperson said.
    “Investigations have been conducted scientifically, and the video clip containing Atishi's audio has been downloaded from a social media platform of Delhi minister Kapil Mishra, which has been forwarded to the director of the forensic science laboratory in SAS Nagar, Punjab, for examination,” he added.
    Taking to X, Khaira said, "Most shocking and blatant case of extreme political vendetta unleashed upon opposition leaders of Punjab by Bhagwant Mann and his DGP, Punjab Police, by registering an utterly false FIR against me, MLA Pargat Singh, and others for sharing a video of Atishi for her derogatory remarks against Guru Teg Bahadur Ji in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha recently."
    “The political terrorism of Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party stands badly exposed as the speaker of Delhi Vidhan Sabha has issued a privilege notice to Jalandhar police commissioner for registering the FIR on the property (video) of Delhi Vidhan Sabha proceedings,” he added.
    “This bogus FIR against us has vindicated our often-repeated allegations that Punjab has been turned into a police state by Bhagwant Mann to terrorise, intimidate and threaten its opponents,” Khaira claimed.
    The Delhi Assembly has taken cognisance of the Jalandhar police’s FIR and said strict action will be taken against the Jalandhar police commissioner.
    “This (the FIR and use of the clip) amounts to a breach of privilege, and strict action will be taken against the Jalandhar police commissioner, because the video clip is a property of the Delhi Assembly. We are taking cognisance of this matter,” Speaker Vijender Gupta said.
    Atishi, on her part, has accused the BJP of indulging in petty politics by dragging the name of the ninth Sikh guru.
    In a video post on X, Atishi claimed that she was talking about the BJP running away from a discussion on pollution and about their protest in the Assembly on the issue of stray dogs.
    But the BJP deliberately added a false subtitle and inserted the name of Guru Tegh Bahadur into it, she claimed, referring to the clip.
    The former Delhi chief minister also said that she belongs to a family in which, for generations, the eldest son adopted Sikhism. She would rather die than insult the Guru Sahib, Atishi said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)