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Bathinda village tense after land row
Police arrest 5 men for attacking SGPC staff, villagers to hold rally on May 23
Sukhmeet Bhasin
Tribune News Service

Troubled land On May 7, some SGPC staff members reached Bhai Rupa village to take possession of 106 acres of land that they claimed belonged to the Sikh religious body according to an order of the Supreme Court. The villagers opposed the move and also allegedly attacked the SGPC staff claiming that the land belonged to a local society On Wednesday, the police arrested five villagers in that connection and sealed all roads leading to the village to maintain law and order.

Bathinda, May 21
The police today arrested five persons of Bhai Rupa village for allegedly attacking Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) staff on May 7 when the latter came there to take possession of 161 acres of land.

All roads leading to the village were sealed to prevent gathering of farmer union members there. The BKU Ekta Ugrahan and the BKU Dakonda had announced to support the farmers.

The police did not allow villagers to return to their homes from their fields. Despite barricading, some members of the farmer union and Bhullar community somehow managed to sneak into the village. They later organised a protest march. Besides demanding release of the arrested persons, they wanted the district administration and the SGPC to show them the orders of the Supreme Court that vested the ownership of the said land in the Sikh religious body. BKU Dakonda leader Nar Singh alleged the district administration was biased. “The documents in our possession show that the land belongs to the Bhai Roop Chand Langar Sewa Society,” he said. Society president Rajwinder Singh said the villagers would fight till the end and not let the SGPC take over the land illegally. He said they would hold a gathering in the village gurdwara on May 23.