B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Tension at Gidderbaha village as admn demolishes house built on shamlat land
Muktsar, March 29
Tension brewed up at Madhir village in Gidderbaha sub-division this morning when while raising the boundary wall of a village pond, the local administration demolished the house of a poor family, which was illegally constructed on the shamlat land.

Gidderbaha MLA Amrinder Singh Warring "Raja" lodges a protest outside the Kot Bhai police station in Gidderbaha sub-division on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

2 Akali leaders get 3-yr jail in trespass case
Moga, March 29
The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Moga, Rakesh Gupta, today sentenced two local Akali leaders Sukhdev Singh Mangewala and Jarnail Singh Duneke, and one Paramjit Singh, a resident of Ludhiana, to imprisonment for three years after finding them guilty of lurking house-trespass by night for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint and wrongful confinement to extort property or constrain to illegal act.

5 booked for killing youth for ‘honour’
Ferozepur, March 29
In an alleged case of honour killing, a youth identified as Anil Kumar, a resident of Kothi Rai Sahib in Ferozepur, was allegedly thrashed to death by the family members of a girl.

Tension at Gidderbaha village as admn demolishes house built on shamlat land
Cong worker held; MLA alleges party workers booked in fake case
Archit Watts/TNS

Muktsar, March 29
Tension brewed up at Madhir village in Gidderbaha sub-division this morning when while raising the boundary wall of a village pond, the local administration demolished the house of a poor family, which was illegally constructed on the shamlat land.

As soon as the authorities concerned demolished the house, the matter took a political colour and activists of both the Congress and the SAD reached the spot.

Though both the parties accepted that the structure was built over the shamlat land, local Congress MLA Amrinder Singh Warring “Raja”, who reached the spot, said the house was demolished just because its occupants supported him in the assembly polls. He added that a number of houses were constructed on the government land but Sukhpal Singh, the occupant of the house, was targeted because he supported the Congress.

On the contrary, Akali sarpanch Gurvinder Singh said it was necessary to raise the boundary wall around the pond and the house fell inside the pond area limits.

“The occupants of the house were informed a number of times to vacate the land, but they did not pay any heed. Finally, the structure was demolished,” said Gurvinder Singh. He, however, alleged that Raja Warring opened fire in the air to threaten him and others raising the boundary wall.

Raja Warring, however, termed the allegations as baseless. He said the police was present on the spot in a large number. In such a case, how can one open fire or create panic among the public, he asked.

Gidderbaha DSP Jagdish Kumar Bishnoi said, “Though the supporters of Akalis and the Congress exchanged some heated arguments, no major untoward incident took place.”

He added that no Akali supporter had lodged any complaint with regard to firing in the air with an aim to threaten them.

Meanwhile, Gidderbaha SDM Puneet Goyal said he had called both the parties tomorrow to his office to resolve the matter.

Later, when the local authorities again tried to raise the wall, the Congress supporters objected and a few of them damaged it. They further broke the windowpanes of a JCB machine, which aggravated the situation, sources said.

Muktsar SSP Indermohan Singh said, “A few Congress activists were booked for causing damage to the public property and passing casteist remarks against an Akali worker. So, we arrested one Congress activist.”

Around 9:15 pm, when Raja Warring came to know about the development, he along with a large number of his supporters sat on an indefinite protest outside the Kot Bhai police station, demanding an immediate release of his supporter, cancellation of the case and suspension of Kot Bhai police station SHO Parminder Singh.

Raja said, “We will continue our protest as the police is working at the behest of Akalis and a fake case has been registered against our workers.”

2 Akali leaders get 3-yr jail in trespass case
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, March 29
The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Moga, Rakesh Gupta, today sentenced two local Akali leaders Sukhdev Singh Mangewala and Jarnail Singh Duneke, and one Paramjit Singh, a resident of Ludhiana, to imprisonment for three years after finding them guilty of lurking house-trespass by night for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint and wrongful confinement to extort property or constrain to illegal act.

As per the case file, an FIR under various sections of the IPC and the Arms Act was registered against Jarnail, Sukhdev and Paramjit on March 29, 2003, at the City police station after an inquiry by Jagmohan Singh, the then Moga DSP, on the directions of the State Human Rights Commission.

Later, during the course of trial, charges were framed against Jarnail and Sukhdev under Sections 347, 458, 427 and 506 of the IPC. All other charges mentioned in the FIR were dropped against them while the ‘challan’ was not filed against Paramjit by the police.

Interestingly, Paramjit was summoned by the court during the course of trial and made a co-accused in the case, confirmed Ramesh Grover, a private advocate who fought the case on behalf of the prosecution.

There were allegations that these persons forcibly entered an old woman's house on the Amritsar road and demolished it to construct shops. “She could not bear the shock and subsequently died of cardiac arrest after few weeks,” alleged Aman, her son, who had lodged the FIR against them.

Meanwhile, the CJM Rakesh Gupta has accepted the bail applications of all the accused persons and granted them bail as per the law to file appeals in the evening.

It may be mentioned that septuagenarian Mangewala and Duneke were both former sarpanches of their respective villages. They are firm supporters of the ruling SAD party.

Mangewala also contested the 1992 assembly elections from the Baghapurana constituency.

When contacted, the convict Akali leaders said they would file an appeal against their conviction before the competent court.

5 booked for killing youth for ‘honour’
Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, March 29
In an alleged case of honour killing, a youth identified as Anil Kumar, a resident of Kothi Rai Sahib in Ferozepur, was allegedly thrashed to death by the family members of a girl.

DSP (Sub-division) Jagjit Singh Saroya said Anil and Monika (name changed) were in love and had run away from their homes around six months ago. However, they returned later following a compromise reached between the two families after intervention of some panchayat members, he said.

On Wednesday, Monika's family members kidnapped Anil and took him to Peeranwala village where they allegedly beat him up. When Anil’s uncle along with some people reached the village, the accused fled from the scene.

Anil was shifted to the local Civil Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The DSP said on the compliant of Younis Bhatti (the deceased’s uncle), the police had registered a case against five persons, including Jagga (father of the girl), Amarjit Kaur (mother), and Babbu, Neeta and Arjun (brothers).

All the accused are reportedly on the run.