Punjab Home Department issued notification directing Divisional Commissioner Jalandhar, Baldeo Purushartha, to conduct a Magisterial Enquiry

Spokesman News Service, Chandigarh (20th Oct'18): Acting quickly on the orders of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, the Punjab Home Department today issued a notification directing Divisional Commissioner Jalandhar, Baldeo Purushartha, to conduct a Magisterial Enquiry into the Amritsar tragedy. The Punjab Government, considering the enormity of the unfortunate incident, had decided to institute a Magisterial Enquiry into the incident. The Enquiry will look into all aspects of the unfortunate incident.

In a the notification issued by Additional Chief Secretary Home Nirmaljit Singh Kalsi, Baldeo Purushartha has been appointed Special Executive Magistrate under the provision of Section 21 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and shall exercise all such powers conferred upon an Executive Magistrate while conducting this Magisterial Enquiry. The notification also lists the terms and reference of the Magisterial Enquiry.

The Enquiry has been authorised “to conduct a thorough probe into the unfortunate incident and to examine acts of omission and commission by an individual or agency, if any, and accordingly fix responsibility. The Magisterial Enquiry has also been asked “to suggest remedial measures to ensure that of such unfortunate incident do not reoccur“.

According to a Spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office, the Enquiry shall be completed within four weeks and the report shall be submitted to Department of Home and Justice. It may be added that several persons were killed and many others injured, when a Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) train crashed through a Dussehra crowd near Jaura Phatak on Jalandhar-Amritsar Railway line in Amritsar city.