Amarinder slams LoP Harpal Cheema on law and order assertions

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 6

Taking the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) to task over his misleading and politically motivated statement on the state’s law and order situation, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for mutilating facts in a desperate bid to win the 2022 electoral battle, which they can already see slipping away from their hands.

Responding to Harpal Singh Cheema’s unfounded and baseless allegations of increasing cases of crime in the state, the Chief Minister expressed shock over the highly irresponsible behaviour of the LoP in spreading false information based on some unsubstantiated media report. “Instead of picking up unverified data from here and there, Cheema could have approached the DGP to get the facts, which are completely removed from what he has put in his press release,” said Captain Amarinder.

Cheema has once again proved that the AAP ideology is based on lies and fabrications, with all the leaders of Arvind Kejriwal’s party having become masters of deceit, quipped the Chief Minister, adding that contrary to Cheema’s claims, only 38 cases of `kidnapping for ransom’ have been reported in the state since his government took over in March 2017. Even those meagre 38 cases (0.5%) relating to ‘kidnapping for ransom’ registered since March 2017 were solved, with the victim’s release successfully secured and culprits arrested in each of them, said the Chief Minister, adding that even convictions have been obtained in many instances by fast tracking of criminal trials in serious cases.

This, he said, was a far cry from the 7,138 incidents cited by Cheema, who evidently cannot differentiate between kidnapping for ransom and other cases of abduction/kidnapping. “But then, given your total lack of experience of governance or administration or policing, this does not come as a surprise,” remarked the Chief Minister, taking a dig at Cheema’s evident ignorance.

As the Home Minister of the state, Capt Amarinder said he would not mind giving a few quick tips to the LoP to save him similar embarrassment over his total ignorance in the future. The fact is that there is a whole set of criminal cases that deal with kidnapping, as registered under sections 363, 364, 364 A, 365 and 366 of the IPC. These relate to Kidnapping (363), Abduction (364), Kidnapping for ransom (364 A) etc, kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc.(366), Procuration of minor girl (366 A), the Chief Minister went on to explain.

Of the remaining 7138, 87% pertained to elopement and over 10% to clashes between two parties, which usually involve registration of kidnapping offences as people either go missing on their own or elope of their own free will because they are in consensual relationships as major or minor girls, said the Chief Minister. In many such cases, at the time of the filing of the FIRs, the family is initially not even aware of the cause of their disappearance and therefore files a report of kidnapping or abduction, which Cheema neither knows nor has bothered to find out, he quipped.

Amarinder further went on to rebut Cheema’s claims on the kidnapping for ransom cases in various districts, pointing out that as against the LoP’s claim of 1032 such cases, only 3 were actually reported in Ludhiana, with all cases solved. Similarly, in Amritsar Commissionerate and district, only 2 cases were of ‘kidnapping for ransom’ were reported, while in Jalandhar district, there was actually not a single case of `kidnapping for ransom’, as against the 619 claimed by the LoP, he added.

Closer home, in Mohali district, out of the 576 FIRs registered under various kidnapping/abduction sections, only 2 involved kidnapping for ransom. Both these cases were traced and challans put in court. The balance pertained to elopement of minor girls, disclosed the Chief Minister. As for Patiala district, only 2 of the 470 kidnapping cases registered were related to ransom, he added.

The law and order situation in Punjab is currently among the best in the country, said Amarinder, trashing Cheema’s claims to the contrary.