J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

Dalit girl’s gang rape case
Police lathicharges protesters for blocking highway
Nikhil Bhardwaj

Kartarpur February 28
The police lathicharged the protesters who had laid siege to the Jalandhar-Amritsar national highway near Sekhwan Khoo locality here today.

Resident had been protesting against the police for not arresting the accused who had allegedly gang raped a minor girl on Sunday.

Eyewitnesses said demonstrators and the police pelted each other with stones. A few policemen and some protesters were injured in the incident.

To tackle the tense situation, a large number of police personnel of the district were deployed and teargas shells were used to dispel the protesters.

Sources said protesters damaged some vehicles of the commuters trying to cross the way and burnt wooden things lying outside shops. Some police vehicles were also damaged by the protesters.

The police tries to control protesters on the Jalandhar-Amritsar national highway near Sekhwan Khoo locality on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh

Station House Officer (SHO) of the Kartarpur police station Rashpal Singh said the moment protesters started throwing stones at the police, they resorted to bursting teargas shells to disburse the protesters. Many police personnel were injured by the stones thrown by the protesters. “As of now it is not possible to tell the exact number of police personnel injured, but many have been sent for treatment to the Civil Hospital,” the SHO said.

Relatives of the girl, who was gang raped, and scores of residents had laid a siege to the highway this morning, but the protest was put off after an assurance by the police of arresting the accused by this evening.

On seeing that no arrest had been made by the evening, scores of protesters again sat on a dharna on the highway. The moment the crowd went furious and started pelting the police with stones at around 7 pm this evening, the police resorted to lathicharge. Sources said the police had also rounded up some protesters.

On Sunday, a girl of the Sekhwan Khoo locality in Kartarpur was allegedly raped by three youths, identified as Parmel Singh, alias Pamma, Jassa (both resident of Sekhwan Khoo) and Bhinda of Vidipur village. They had been booked in a rape case and today on the demand of the girl’s parents, a case under the SC/ST Act was also registered against them.