At Devi Nagar, premis ran for life

PANCHKULA: Out of the two epicentres of Fridays carnage in Panchkula a village in Sector 3 was unguarded by the security forces

Updated At : 08:17 AM Aug 27, 2017 IST

A day after the violence unleashed by Dera Sacha Sauda followers after the conviction of their dera chief, a damaged college van being towed away with a crane in Sector 6, Panchkula, on Saturday. Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, August 26

Out of the two epicentres of Friday’s carnage in Panchkula, a village in Sector 3 was unguarded by the security forces. Devi Nagar, the lone residential area in the whole sector, fended for itself. As the premis entered their village and started pelting stones, the villagers stood guard and put up a united front to chase them away.

As of today, the village largely looked unharmed but as one goes inside, pieces of clothes, sticks, stones and bricks show that hundreds of premis swarmed into it yesterday. Having slept two sleepless nights, villagers inform that the mob entered the village and started pelting stones.

At the entry point of the village are just walls so they proceeded deeper and the village dispensary became their first target. While the dispensary was locked, they pelted stones and broke the windowpane of a minibus parked inside. They then started attacking the transformer next to the dispensary. After the dispensary is the village school, which turns into the first lane of houses in the village.

By then, the men of the village had put up a united front and were ready to face the attackers with sticks. As the mob was angry and in attacking mode, the bravehearts decided to run towards them. This caused panic among the premis and they ran in the direction of the village but kept on running towards the Ghaggar, which flows behind the village.

Ranjeet and Surmukh, who were involved in saving their village, said there were no police or army presence in their village and they were prepared to defend themselves. “We were not scared as we had to defend our families and our houses. The police were also not answering our calls,” added Ranjeet.

They inform that there was no face-off between them and the premis who escaped the village as soon as they saw them charging towards them. The women of the village inform that at first they were inside the houses, once the premis left, they came out as well.

The women said the men had been awake for the past two nights as the premis were in the village. “We gave them water to drink yesterday,” said one of the residents. However, the premis chose to attack them.