Chandigarh, December 24: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which had targeted Supreme Court lawyer and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader HS Phoolka in recent years, is set to honour him at Akal Takht.
Following the Delhi High Court judgment against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 riots case, SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal had announced to honour Phoolka and other lawyers. Witnesses Jagdish Kaur, Nirpreet Kaur and Jagseer Singh will also be honoured.
In February 2014, when AAP had fielded Phoolka from Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and then SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar had accused the lawyer of minting money from riot cases.
Makkar had claimed that the SGPC had paid over Rs 42 lakh as fee to lawyers, including a panel of five advocates recommended by Phoolka, to contest the cases of riot victims. The duo had accused Phoolka of trying to gain political mileage from a colossal tragedy.
Phoolka had denied charging even a penny for any case and had claimed that none of the five advocates mentioned by the SGPC were his juniors.
Despite repeated attempts, Longowal could not be contacted. Phoolka refused to comment on the matter, saying that the recent verdict was a victory of the people.
