Dhariwal, January 29
In a bizarre incident, henchmen of a wine contractor today allegedly molested and beat up a woman in full public view in the busy bus stand area here, which led to a complete bandh in this border town.
The woman had gone to the wine shop to make a request not to give liquor to her husband, an employee of Central Bank, Gurdaspur, who is reportedly an alcoholic. She has been admitted to the civil dispensary at Naushehra Majha Singh with 11 multiple injuries and was declared as ‘unfit to record her statement’ by doctors.
The bandh, which started at around 9 a.m., was lifted around 3.30 p.m. following an assurance given by the SDM, Gurdaspur, Mr Amarjit Paul, and the SP Mr D.S. Dhindsa.
According to eyewitnesses, the henchmen of the contractor downed the shutter of the wine shop and started beating her up mercilessly. Later, they bundled the victim into a waiting vehicle and took her to the police station. They even tried to lodge a false complaint against the victim that she had broken a number of liquor bottles. During the ‘scuffle’, the woman was allegedly stripped.
The SDM said a case was being registered against the six suspects under the non-bailable sections like ‘outraging the modesty of a woman’. The six suspects have been identified as Mukhtyar Singh, Ashok Kumar, Sahib Singh, Pinder, Billa and Gurmit Singh.
According to the SDM, two suspects had already been rounded up while the others were at large. The SDM said the victim was still unconscious and the police would record her statement later. He, however, said the SHO had already been directed to register an FIR in case the victim continued to be ‘unfit’ for recording her statement.
The eyewitnesses alleged that police officials did not bother to arrest the suspects allegedly due to their proximity to the wine contractor. Soon people started gathering around the police station. They alleged that the henchmen of the liquor contractor had created a terror in the region who act like officials of the Excise Department and even resort to ‘raid’ the premises to stop distilling of illicit liquor. They resort to picking of bootleggers, who adversely affect the sale of liquor through wine shops, which is otherwise the duty of Excise and Police departments.
At first, the dharna was staged near the bus stand, which was later shifted in front of the police station. Cutting across party lines, a large number of leaders from various parties assembled outside the police station.
