100 Panipat women booked for ‘thrashing’ UHBVN staff

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, February 15

The police have booked 100 women of Mandi village in Israna block of Panipat district for allegedly thrashing and obstructing Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) officials from performing duty.

This is not the first instance when villagers in large numbers have been booked on the complaint of UHBVN officials.

Mohit Dahiya, SDO, UHBVN, Israna, in his police complaint filed yesterday, said that works, including installation of poles and electricity cables, under the MGJG scheme were under way to cut line losses and provide extended power supply to residents of Mandi village. When the employees visited the village on Thursday to install poles, over 100 women led by Jagmati Devi and Santoshi Devi reached the site, forcing the work to come to a halt. He claimed the women reached the 33 kV sub-station and switched off supply, locked the substation doors and staged a protest.

The Israna police have booked Jagmati Devi, Santoshi and 100 other women under Sections 147, 186 and 353 of the IPC. Sources said a section of residents were opposed to power meters being shifted outside their houses. They also did not want the wiring changed. “In the first phase, UHBVN officials filed FIRs against hundreds of residents of Kavi, Raja Kheri and Nangal Kheri villages and in the second against residents of Brahman Majra, Bursham, Hartari, Didwari and Titana,” the sources said. The Madlauda police have booked more than 250 villagers, including women, of Kawi village. The Samalkha police have booked more than 100 residents of a locality in Samalkha.