APS Deol resigned as Punjab’s advocate general (AG) on Monday who was appointed on September 27. There had been a controversy ever since he was appointed as the Advocate general by chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi. According to sources, Deol resigned in the afternoon, but the Charanjit Singh Channi administration has yet to accept his resignation. So yet, neither Deol nor the state administration has verified the news.
Soon after Deol’s appointment, Punjab Congress chairman Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned, criticizing both his and Director General of Police Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota’s appointments. Since then, Sidhu has been emphatic about his replacement, which he has expressed to the Congress’s central leadership.
Deol, 61, rose to prominence earlier this year when he gained the release of former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, who had been detained by the vigilance department in a 2020 criminal case. Deol represented Saini, among others, in the 2015 sacrilege charges heard by the Punjab and Haryana high court.
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Hundreds of Sikh netizens have also criticized Channi’s actions, using the hashtag #ChanniSavingSumedhSaini. This became the source of the government’s criticism following his appointment. It was argued that an advocate general who supported Saini and others accused of sacrilege should not have been appointed.
Deol then appointed Rajwinder Singh Bains, a distinguished advocate, and criminal lawyer, as a special public prosecutor to appear in post-sacrilege violence cases as well as instances in which Saini is a defendant. However, this appointment was called into doubt because Bains had represented a complainant in the 2015 sacrilege trials. Deol fought hard to get sealed cover reports at the high court unsealed in the drug cases. However, owing to the holiday season, the topic was discussed on two or three occasions, but no resolution was reached, and the matter has now been postponed until November 18. The court has yet to determine whether to open the reports.
