Lambi village fears police backlash
Girl’s death: Angry residents had torched Akali leader’s bus after mishap
Who paid Rs 10 lakh relief?
- DC Basant Garg said: “The administration has not paid anything to the aggrieved family. The case of compensation was forwarded to the CM’s office”
- Bus owner Dimpy Dhillon said: “I refused to pay Rs 25 lakh demanded by the family. I told them they would be paid as per the insurance policy of the bus. If someone has paid the money, they might have done so from their own pocket”
Residents of Channu village, located 6 km from Badal village, fear government backlash over staging protests.
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service
Channu (Lambi), December 13
Tension prevails in the native village of 12-year-old Dalit girl Arshdeep Kaur, who was run over by a bus owned by SAD’s Gidderbaha constituency in charge Hardeep Singh ‘Dimpy’ Dhillon on Friday evening.
The residents, who resorted to violent protests after the mishap, fear the government might use excessive force to ‘punish’ them. The villagers recall 2013 panchayat polls when 120 unidentified people were booked in Mann village for violence, forcing a majority of villagers to flee. Channu is located 6 km from Badal village in CM Parkash Singh Badal’s home constituency Lambi. Mann village is just 3 km from Badal village.
After the Congress spearheaded protests in support of residents in 2013, a number of villagers were arrested despite assurances by the police of not initiating action against them. Now, too, the police have registered two criminal cases despite having promised that no case would be registered against any protester.
In the first case, 82 persons have been booked, including AAP’s Lambi circle convener Narinderjit Singh ‘Naati Sarpanch’, while in the second one, a case has been registered against 60 unidentified persons.
The villagers learned about the cases today, a day after the aggrieved family lifted dharna and performed the last rites of the victim, a student of class VIII.
A resident of Channu village, who was part of the group that blocked the Lambi-Gidderbaha road seeking justice for the aggrieved family, said: “All those visible in photographs that appeared in newspapers are fearing arrest. The police have booked unidentified people for damaging two buses of New Deep Transport, obstructing police team and hurling stones at them.”
“The police did not keep their word and backstabbed residents who did not indulge in any unlawful activity. Most residents are in touch with relatives living at faraway places seeking refuge,” he said.
Another resident said: “Policemen in civvies are still present in the village, keeping an eye on those visiting the victim’s house. We fear the police may arrest us anytime.”
Muktsar Senior Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Chahal had on Saturday said: “No case would be registered against any protester.” He, however, told the TNS today: “We had promised that no one from the victim’s family would be booked. But those who violated the law, torched the bus and damaged another, hurled stones and obstructed the police from performing duty have been booked.”
“Those innocent will not be harassed. They should not worry about it,” he said.
A Superintendent of Police-rank officer said: “The cases can be cancelled, but it will take some time. The villagers should not worry about it.”
Three cases have been registered at the Lambi police station in connection with the girl’s death and violence that took place in its aftermath.
Bus driver Baljit Singh has been booked for negligent driving, while nearly 60 people have been booked for rioting and vandalising two buses.
In the third case, 82 persons, 12 by name, have been booked. In his complaint, Lambi’s SHO Gurpreet Singh alleged Narinderjit Singh ‘Naati Sarpanch’ of Sarawan Bodla village and Bachitter Singh of Karaiwala village provoked people to torch the bus.
Courtesy: The Tribune
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