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BJP activists lathicharged, former Deputy Speaker among those arrested
Ludhiana, December 10 The BJP has condemned the police action of preventing them from staging a peaceful demonstration and called it a “murder of democracy”. Senior BJP leader Satpal Gosain who was also arrested compared the ‘police raj’ to the Emergency days. The BJP was staging the darna to protest against the alleged anti-people policies of the state government, alleged atrocities on BJP workers by the
police and the rising cost of living. SSP Narinderpal Singh said they had only used mild force to disperse a mob that had attacked some cops on duty. He said the uniforms of a number of constables was torn. He said the police did not allow the demonstration orders under Section 144 of CrPC was in force. ‘‘When the law doesn’t allow demonstrations, why should some leaders be spared.?’’ he asked Apart from BJP activists, a number of mediapersons were also injured in the lathicharge. The mediapersons have submitted a complaint to District Magistrate Anurag Verma. Talking to the Ludhiana Tribune, Mr Verma said he would look into the complaint. Regarding the use of force against the BJP activists, he said it was the duty of the police to maintain law and order. The BJP leaders including Mr Satpal Gosain, former Deputy Speaker Punjab Vidhan Sabha, District President Subash Verma and others were also dragged away from the dharna site in the morning. Others arrested were Mr Anil Sareen, Mr H L Sethi, Mr Parveen Bansal, Mr Sandeep Kapoor and Mr Sanjay Kumar. The drama actually began last night only. The police had been making elaborate arrangements since the last evening to prevent the BJP activists from the staging the dharna and gheraoing of the SSP. Many activists and leaders were picked up from their houses and detained. Police barricades were set up all over the city to prevent the activists from reaching the proposed dharna site. However, those who to reached there were not allowed to sit and forcibly removed and dispatched in waiting trucks to different police stations. Interestingly the BJP activists had managed to erect a shamiana at the proposed dharna site, which was not noticed by the police. A drama took place at the site at 10:15 a.m. when Mr Satpal Gosain, Mr Subash Verma, Mr Harbans Lal Sethi and others managed to reach there. They claimed that they had come on scooters and auto-rickshaws to sneak through the police nakas set up to stop them. A heavy contingent of police swooped down on them within minutes and bundled them into trucks. Mr Gosain and Mr Verma had to be lifted forcibly as they did not budge and remained lying on the ground. Then at 1 p.m. a number of BJP workers who were hiding in various offices in the minisecretariat gathered outside the SSP office to gherao him. The police then used lathi charge to prevent them from gheraoing the SSP.
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BJP demands judicial probe
Ludhiana, December 10 They said the real purpose of the lathicharge was not to disperse the demonstrators but to beat them in order to teach them a lesson for daring to raise the question of deteriorating law and order conditions in the city and registration of false cases against the BJP workers under political pressure. They demanded a judicial inquiry. They also said the probe should include the role of SHOs who threatened the BJP workers last night if they participated in the Dharna.
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Row between SHO, BJP leaders at centre of controversy
Ludhiana, December 10 Though the BJP leaders today made allegations against all the SHOs and senior police officials of corruption, going to the extent of calling the city police stations, an extended offices of the Congress leaders, the controversy began from the Division No. 2 police station. Specific allegations of alleged atrocities on BJP workers and leaders involve this police station only. The police does not view the actions of SHO Gurmeet Kaur as atrocities but term those as courageous. The way the entire district police took on the BJP workers meant that the Police Department had completely rallied round the SHO. SSP Narinderpal Singh said Inspector Gurmeet Kaur’s action were laudable as she had refused to buckle under any kind of political pressure. “She is an honest officer and had taken on the anti-social elements in the area irrespective of the party they belonged to.” The BJP leaders have been claiming that the SHO had illegally detained one Baldev Singh of Mushtaq Gunj here for three days. He is a BJP worker and was told to work for the Congress party if he wanted to run his shop in the area. He said the police officer also harassed Jasbir Singh alias Billa who is a witness in a defamation case filed by Mr Gosain against a Congress leader. The alleged victim’s wife is the vice-president of the east constituency of the party in the city. Citing other cases he alleged that the division no 2 police also harassed party workers to effect a compromise in a rape case. Another party worker was beaten up in his house but no action was taken on his complaint. The police also harassed dhaba owner and a Municipal Councillor of the BJP party. SSP Narinder Pal Singh said the BJP leaders meant to browbeat the police and when the police did not budge, they have resorted to agitations and demonstration. The SSP said the police would not allow anyone to disturb the peace in the city.
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BJP to launch fast
Ludhiana, December 10 Senior BJP leader said they would launch fast shortly to protest against the police action. Mr Gosain said the BJP was staging a peaceful demonstration and they had every right to do so as India was a democratic country. He told mediapersons before being arrested that the BJP leaders would meet soon after their release and announce the dates of the agitation.
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25 BJP leaders booked for
violating DM’s order
Ludhiana, December 10 Another 13 workers have beside this section also booked under Section 353 of the IPC for manhandling the police officials on duty and tearing their uniforms, a police spokesman stated here in the evening.
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Cong councillors’ tirade against BJP leaders
Ludhiana, December 10 Ruling party councillors, including Mr Sardool Singh Grewal, Mr Sanjay Talwar and Mr Jasbir Singh Chadha, in a news conference here alleged that Mr Gosain was nursing a grudge against the Mayor and the top brass of the municipal corporation as his request to favour a contractor close to him was turned down. Mr Gosain, along with other BJP activists, had staged a dharna at the residence of the Commissioner. They said Mr Gosain was “patronising unlawful building activity” being carried out by his supporters. “An MC contractor claiming affinity to the BJP leader has constructed a marriage palace in the old city without seeking approval from the civic body or the district authorities. Not only this, since there is no parking place, the adjoining bridge on the open drain is being illegally used for the purpose,” they alleged. In their scathing attack on Mr Bhatia, the councillors alleged that in gross violation of municipal law and enlistment norms for contractors, relatives of the BJP leader were working as contractors in the civic body. “As a result of the misuse of his political power, his son, brother and nephew had earned financial gains during the past few years and all works executed by them needed to be probed,” they alleged. The ruling party councillors ridiculed the Gosain-Bhatia duo for raising the issue of ongoing elevated road project and castigating the MC for delay in its execution. They said there was stiff opposition by the BJP in the initial stage which had caused a delay of more than eight months. The BJP leaders had forgotten that the group leader of the councillors of their own party (Mr Parveen Bansal) was one of the members of the sub-committee of councillors which had recommended the extension of the time period and payment of escalation in cost to the builder.
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Satpal Gosain’s effigy burnt
Ludhiana, December 10 In a press note, Mr Parminder Mehta, secretary, PPCC, claimed that the BJP had tried to disturb peace in the city. Calling it a political stunt, Mr Mehta said if the BJP wanted to vent its ire against the police, there were several other ways to do so. The workers of the Punjab Youth Congress lodged their protest by burning an effigy of Mr Satpal Gosain, a senior BJP leader, near Old Courts Chowk. The protest was led by Sarabjeet Bunty and Gurpreet Arora. They alleged that Mr Gosain had encroached upon 100 yards of Improvement Trust land in the Kidwai Nagar area and was trying to pressurise the police for not taking action against him.
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Tension in Jainpur village, nine held
Jainpur (Ludhiana), December 10 While the nine persons including the present occupant of the farm Hardev Singh was arrested late last evening, women alleged that the police was helping Anuj Sharma, another claimant on land and his associates. They said that they had to lock themselves inside as the members of opposite party were roaming around freely and threatening them while the police had picked up all the male members of their family. As many as nine persons were arrested by the police under Section 107/151 of the I.P.C as the police claimed that they were threatening peace, law and order situation
in the area. Ms Paramjit Kaur, wife of Mr Hardev Singh alleged that they had spent their night under the shadow of fear as some persons had allegedly snapped their electricity and telephone connections. She also claimed that she along with other women would be forced to leave the house by evening as they could not take the risk of staying there for another night along with children. SHO Sadar police station said that the police had to take up this step as they were causing problems during a ‘‘nishandehi’’ which was to be done last evening. He claimed that peace had restored in the area following police action and refuted all
allegations that police was partisan. The dispute revolves around a piece of 24 kanal 8 marla land worth Rs 1 crore, which was allegedly sold twice by the owners of the land over the years. A case regarding the possession is already in the high court. Both claimants Gurnam Singh and Anuj Sharma have been fighting over the possession and the house is presently occupied by Gurnam Singh’s son, Hardev Singh. Gurnam Singh is serving a sentence in an attempt to murder case involving the same controversy. The family members of Gurnam Singh had been alleging that a Parliamentary Secretary was helping Anuj Sharma and his party. The land originally belonged to Hajara Singh of the same village, who had sold it to Gurnam Singh in 1993 at a price of Rs 15 lakh. After the death of Hajara Singh,when the price of property increased manifold in the area, his sons allegedly executed a sale deed with another man, Mr Anuj Sharma and got prepared a fake registry in his name. While the decree of the land in question is in Gurnam Singh’s name, the opposite party has the land registered in their name. Mohinder Singh and Nirmal Singh, sons of the land seller agreed with the sale deed executed by his father, his other two sons, Mr Bhag Singh, Mr Pal Singh and Mr Buta Singh did not agree with the same. So they sold a portion of the land once again.
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Thath violence case: police move to exonerate babas
Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 10 Besides this the Investigation Officer has noticed gross irregularities in the preparation of the revenue record, the District Magistrate, Ludhiana would be asked to take action against the erring officials after fixing responsibility for reported tempering in records. The sources at the Payal Police however denied having received any orders from the crime branch. In a report submitted to the Additional Director-General of Police (Crime), the SP (crime) has maintained that Baba Harnek Singh, Chairman of the Trust, and his supporters Mr Kamal Jit Singh Swami, Gobinder Singh of Aassi Kalan, Nahar Singh of Dashmesh Nagar,
Ludhiana, Baldev Singh Ubhi, Gurnam Singh Ubhi, Manmohan Singh Ubhi (all residents of Chet Singh Nagar, Ludhiana) and Jagrup Singh of Kalarh village were not involved in violence as alleged by the supporters of Baba Mann Singh. Names of Baba Mann Singh and Mr Sewa Singh sons of Baba Meehan Singh, founder of the Thath have also been recommended for exclusion as according to the witnesses the two were present in their rooms at the time of the incident. Holding all 35 accused guilty of resorting to violence with an intention to murder the police cops performing duty at the Thath on the said day, the investigating officer has identified 14 more persons who were involved in the violence. These include Tejinder Singh, Bhagwan Singh, Budh Singh, Babu Singh, Harpal Singh, Malkiat Singh former sarpanch, Sarabjit Singh, Gurdev Singh Kalsian, Swaran Singh Hira Singh, Bajit Singh, Charan Jit Singh and Jaswinder Singh of Sihar, Kalsian and Dhamot. Acchar Singh who has reportedly disappeared for a long period after the incident and Jagtar Singh were also found involved by the investigating team. Referring to the information Besides this case registered on the statement of Avtar Singh Fauzi, another case under Sections 307, 332, 353, 379, 427, 148, and 149 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 A of Arms Act against a ‘mob’ led allegedly by Baba Mann Singh was registered on the statement Mr Gurdip Singh then SHO Payal. The premier agency found the allegations true and identified around 12 more accused during investigations. Gurcharan Singh Granthi of Dodhar village, Gurcharan Singh of Sihar village, and Avtar Singh Fauzi of Dehlon were held accused under Sections 302, 323, 307 and 34 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. Manmohan Singh was however retained as accused under Section 336 of the IPC. Other persons named in FIR were found falsely implicated. The Investigating Officer further found that some revenue records had also been tempered to include the names of Baba Mann Singh, Sewa Singh and Harchand (sons of Baba Meehan Singh ) by removing the name of Baba Meehan Singh as owner of a piece of land measuring more than 14 kanals. A revenue official had deposed before the IO and said that the change had been made contrary to the norms. The investigating officer has written to his seniors that the District Magistrate, Ludhiana should be asked to take action against the erring officials after fixing the responsibility.
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Suicide by middle-aged man
Jagraon, December 10 Today , the wife was away on her duty to school and when an agent Ms Kulwant Kaur came to collect rent, he found the body of Iqbal Singh hanging from a fan in mysterious circumstances. On information to the police, ASI Devinder Singh Chakoi and SI Gurinder Singh SHO PS City Jagraon reached the spot. The police is working on the theory of being it a suicide or a murder case as feet of the deceased were touching the floor creating doubt about it being a case of suicide.
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Police seeks clarification on AIDS infection report
Ludhiana, December 10 The SSP is learnt to have returned the inquiry to the IMA saying that there was nothing clear in it and the police could not make out any case from it. The police has sought further clarifications into the statements recorded in the inquiry. The IMA, in its covering letter, had reportedly said that on the face of it they had to presume the statements recorded by various persons concerned to be true and it was for the police to investigate and verify these. The district IMA president, Dr Gursharan Singh, who had entrusted the inquiry to a team of senior doctors, refused to comment. He said, he had not received any information so far on the issue. However, he clarified that the IMA had tried to be as exhaustive and elaborate as possible to make it free from all ambiguities. He said even then if the police had some clarifications to seek from the IMA it would readily make these available. Moreover, he pointed out, the IMA could not sit on judgement but it was concerned on examining various aspects of the case and submit these to the police. Mr Surinder Singh had accused Dr Harpreet Kaur Bhullar of the Bhullar Nursing Home, Sarabha Nagar, of having transfused HIV infected blood to his wife as she (Dr Bhullar) had not tested it prior to the transfusion. However, Dr Bhullar had been maintaining that she had tested the blood before transfusion.
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Old man complaints to VB against Patwari
Ludhiana, December 10 Alleging that despite the fact that the Deputy Commissioner and a SDM of the city had directed the patwari concerned to issue a copy of ‘‘farad’’, he had failed to do so despite requests. Mr Bhajan Singh in an affidavit furnished to the VB claimed that he was asking for a copy of the ‘‘farad’’ for past many years but the patwari was not issuing him the same. Despite the fact that he was an owner of land worth Rs 2 crore he could not stake a claim to it due to lack of revenue records and was forced to live in penury. Some months ago, Mr Bhajan Singh had applied for getting the copy of farad by depositing Rs 100. He was told to bring the Khasra and Khatauni numbers of the land in question from the previous register from the circle patwari. While his request for these numbers was registered and given a report number two months ago, he is yet to get the revenue record showing these numbers. He alleged that some revenue officials do not want to provide him with the record as they had allegedly tried to change the record with the
connivance of some claimants on the land. He claimed that he was given the possession by the Commissioner, Patiala Division years ago and if he would be given a changed “farad” officials feared that he would raise a voice against them. He claimed that the land was given to his wife by his mother-in-law, who died some years ago. ‘‘I had been moving from pillar to post to get a copy of farad from the patwari concerned but even after four years of my struggle I am not able to get the same.’’said Mr Bhajan Singh. Claiming that the copy of revenue record in his possession was a part of major scam in the Revenue Department, Mr Bhajan Singh said that if it was probed then names of many employees and senior officials would figure in. Now he has filed a complaint with the Vigilance Bureau, which has been sent to the head office after giving it a file number. His statement has also been recorded. In an affidavit furnished to the officials concerned, a copy of which is with the Tribune also, Mr Bhajan Singh has claimed that as per the revenue records while Inteakaal number 219 of agricultural land in Dhandra village is in the name of Jaswant Kaur, Angrez Kaur, Naginder Kaur, Ram Singh and Chhinder Kaur, the owners of the land in a copy of ‘farad’ given to him are Ram Singh and Gurvinder Singh.
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Traffic congestion bane of city
Ludhiana, December 10 Prime commercial centres like Ghumar Mandi, Chaura Bazar, Bhadaur House, Feroze Gandhi Market, Old G.T. Road and Gill Road are the worst-affected with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Even as the ill-equipped traffic police finds it hard to enforce traffic rules and bring some semblance of order, particularly on highways and main roads, a Rs 9-crore project mooted by the municipal corporation to provide seven multi-level paid parking lots in different localities has also been delayed due to various reasons. The ‘build, operate and transfer project was meant to tide over the scarcity of parking places. In Ghumar Mandi one finds difficulty in moving about on foot due to indiscriminate parking of vehicles. The problem of traffic congestion has been aggravated by rampant encroachments and slow-moving traffic like push carts, rickshaws and mule carts. Also shopkeepers use road sides to display their merchandise, thereby affecting the flow of traffic. Poor infrastructure has further worsened the problem.
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DMC faculty for strict action against Kalia
Ludhiana, December 10 This has led to lot of resentment among the patients, employees and the faculty members that how the striking employees can hold the system to ransom without caring about the health of thousands of people but when it comes to the health of their own kin, they will not tolerate a delay of a single minute. Kalia is being accused of having gone back on his commitment he made in writing only a few months back to the district administration that he and his supporters will not resort to any strike that will hit the working of the hospital. The district administration is learnt to have taken strong notice of the strike by the supporters of Kalia for enforcing strike in the DMCH. It has asked the Labour Department to find out as why Kalia and his supporters betrayed the agreement. Moreover, the issue assumes significance given the Punjab governments order declaring the DMCH as public utility service thus prohibiting any strike there. The DMCH is one of the leading hospitals of the city and caters to the patients from across the region. With Kalia and his supporters, the strike has become a regular affair in the hospital. Only a few months ago they had struck work in the Hero DMC Heart Centre and now they are doing the same thing in the DMCH. The faculty and the non-teaching officers and the staff maintained that they (the striking employees led by Kalia) would enforce the closure of the Heart Centre also when Mr Kalia’s father is discharged from there. Meanwhile the DMCH faculty condemned Kalia for sabotaging the working in the hospital. In a resolution here today, they said, “the faculty and the non medical officers express deep anguish about the repeated disruption of hospital work. There is no justification in such actions by the concerned section of employees at the best of Chander Mohan Kalia”. The resolution added, “in the light of these incidents it is unanimously resolved that the strictest possible actions as deemed by the appropriate authorities should by taken against Kalia who is instigating employees and is causing this damage time and again”. In a separate meeting the non — medical officers of the hospital unanimously resolved that strong action must be taken again Kalia who was creating all the problems in the institution and disrupting its functioning despite having signed an agreement with the management in presence of the district administration not resort to strike. The hospital administration today obtained the factual report of attendance from all the departments for the execution of ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy. Those who did not report for duties today, were included in the category of ‘no work’. The functioning at the hospital remained by and large smooth. OPDs functioned normally.
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International Human Rights Day celebrated
Jatana (Ludhiana), December 10 Mr Jain said he felt quite concerned at the rise in custodial death cases from merely four in 1997 to 479 till this date. He said though there was more awareness among people about their human rights now, still many felt the commission to be a government department only, which was not the case. He said the commission provided speedy justice. Though it could only recommend action on a complaint, it had the powers to timebound it on the authority concerned. Mr S.K. Verma, DGP, PSHRC, speaking on the occasion, said the increase in number of cases of varied nature before the commission should not be interpreted as increase in atrocities by the police or other agencies. In his opinion, it meant that the people had become more aware and were coming forward to make complaints. Mr Jain also released a poster on human rights and praised village panchayats which were resolving to boycott people who were violating human rights.
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Bar association poll held
Jagraon, December 10 To upkeep the trend the bar members decided that Mr G.S. Gindra will hold his post of president for the year 2006, whereas Mr Virk and the other two for the year 2006. Mr Ajit Tandon and Mr Kuldip Singh Dholan were elected Executive members for the year 2005. Promissory note stolen: Traffic blocked:
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Dr Kesar’s death mourned
Samrala, December 10
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