Three of four men charged in the June 18, 2023 shooting death of Surrey gurdwara president Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, appeared in person in red prison garb in a high-security courtroom in Surrey provincial court Tuesday, May 21 while the fourth appeared remotely from Ontario, where he is being held.
Judge Emmet Duncan set their next court appearance for June 25 after Crown prosecutor Marcel Daigle explained the adjournment 鈥渋s to allow Crown to comply with its disclosure obligations.鈥�
Nijjar was shot to death in the parking lot of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Newton. He was found in his truck suffering from gunshot wounds.
Duncan reaffirmed a court order made by Judge Mark Jette on May 15 that the four are not to have contact with three members of Nijjar鈥檚 family and four other people. Jette had also made a mandatory detention order under Section 515 (11) of the Criminal Code, with the help of a Punjabi interpreter.
Amandeep Singh, 22, Karan Brar, 22, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karanpreet Singh, 28, are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Amandeep Singh appeared remotely while the other three accused appeared in person.
Amandeep Singh had to make his first 鈥渁ppearance鈥� in Surrey provincial court on May 15 by telephone from Ontario. When he was arrested by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) on May 11, he was already in custody at the time for unrelated firearm charges out of Peel Regional Police in Ontario. 鈥淏ecause of technical incompatibility between our court and courts in Ontario, Mr. Singh is not able to appear by video,鈥� Jette noted.
鈥淪pecifically I鈥檓 told that the Ontario court system uses a different messaging system than we do and they鈥檙e not able to communicate with each other.鈥�
While B.C. uses Microsoft Teams, Ontario uses Zoom.
Bhupinder Singh Hothi, general secretary of Surrey's Guru Nanak Gurdwara, outside Surrey provincial court Wednesday following 1st court appearance of 4th murder suspect in Nijjar shooting.
鈥� Tom Zytaruk (@tomzytaruk)
On May 7, demonstrators gathered outside of Surrey provincial court while Karan Brar, Karanpreet Singh and Kamalpreet Singh made their first court appearance virtually by video. Community members outside came with flags and signs, with some reciting religious chants quietly under their breaths as they hoped to learn more about how the Crown鈥檚 case will unfold.
May 15 saw a second round of this.
Bhupinder Singh Hothi, general secretary of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, said outside the courthouse that it鈥檚 the group鈥檚 intention to attend every court appearance.
鈥淲e are all ready to attend all the hearings that will be held in this case,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ecause it is our leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, that got murdered and you know the cause he got murdered for, for raising his voice for the own Khalistan,鈥� Hothi said. 鈥淪o he was our leader of that moment so that鈥檚 why we all agree that we should be here at all appearances.鈥�
鈥淵ou cannot erase the voice of Khalistan, there is no fear, such fear,鈥� he added.
Hothi also spoke outside the courthouse May 21 amid a crowd of supporters bearing signs with slogans.
He accused the suspects of being 鈥渇oot soldiers鈥� of the Indian government and maintains the federal government needs to arrest more people.
Moninder Singh, of the BC Gurdwara Council, was next to speak. Asked by the Now-Leader what it was like to be so close in court to those accused of murdering Nijjar, he replied that 鈥渇or anyone that鈥檚 here, seeing them on TV or seeing them in person, I think it draws out a bit of emotion. We need to actually get the trial underway, we need to get a conviction and we need to get a sentencing, that鈥檚 how the community feels right now.鈥�
Seeing them in person, he said, 鈥渋s a reminder for us鈥� that the accused 鈥渨ere used by India鈥� and more 鈥渨ill come tomorrow or next year.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 really more up to what we can do in Canada to ensure that India is held accountable at the highest levels,鈥� he added. 鈥淎ll of that has to be kind of brought into the public sphere. So seeing them, while it draws out emotion over the loss that we suffered as a community, it also provides a galvanizing moment for the community to kind of focus back on India. This trial will take its course, but India is still out there and we鈥檙e pretty sure that this isn鈥檛 over on their behalf either.鈥�
鈥淯ntil this comes to a conclusion,鈥� he told reporters, 鈥淚 think people will be shaken, but again they鈥檙e very committed to getting justice for Hardeep Singh, ensuring that the Khalistan movement that he was fighting for is pushed forward.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just at the beginning of the proceedings right now,鈥� Moninder Singh said. 鈥淲e know these things take time.
鈥淲hile we鈥檙e OK with the way that the proceedings are going so far but we don鈥檛 want this to kind of stretch on for years.鈥�
