Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu on Wednesday appeared before the Punjab State Commission for Scheduled Castes in Chandigarh and tendered an unconditional apology in connection with remarks that prompted the commission to take suo motu cognisance. Bittu had not appeared before the commission in the previous two hearings.
Commission Accepts Apology
Commission chairperson Jasvir Singh Garhi said, “The commission had taken suo moto cognisance of the alleged use of caste-indicative terminology by the minister. The first hearing was held on June 4, when Bittu’s advocate appeared and sought time to place his version on record, as he had publicly apologised for the remarks. Accordingly, June 15 was fixed for the hearing. However, Bittu was engaged in meetings in Delhi and had sought more time. The next hearing was scheduled for June 25.”
After accepting the apology, the commission asked Bittu to pay obeisance and perform seva at four holy sites in Punjab: Dera Baba Braham Dass in Phillaur, Dera Sach Khand Ballan, Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal (Ram Tirath) in Amritsar and Sri Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar.
Bittu’s Response
The BJP leader said he tendered an apology before the Punjab State Scheduled Caste Commission and agreed to visit these holy sites and perform sewa. The matter stems from an incident on May 26 in Dhuri, where Bittu had a heated exchange with police officers while demanding the release of BJP leader Onkar Singh, who had been detained for allegedly campaigning during civic elections.
