Policing poor, crimes in Moga shoot up

Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, July 19

The law and order in the district is deteriorating fast. On Thursday, five young Dalits, including two girls, were brutally killed with sharp weapons at Kotla Mehar Singh Wala village in the district.

In the past couple of years, over 50 murder cases, 50 rape incidents, 400 cases of liquor smuggling and 600 cases of drug trafficking have been reported.

A senior police officer revealed at least three gangs of supari killers were active in the region. Two gangsters were reportedly operating from inside the jail.

The scenario is grim. The Moga bus molestation case evoked such strong reactions among the people that life in the state came to a grinding halt. The state government had to take several remedial measures to regain the trust of the people. In the incident, a 17-year-old Dalit girl was thrown off a moving bus of Orbit Aviation on April 29. The company is owned by Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal.

In another case, two Inspectors, a Sub-Inspector and an ASI of the Punjab Police were terminated from service for negligence of duty and alleged involvement in the murder of a Canada-based Punjabi NRI Harinder Singh Sran (46). He was gunned down over a land dispute at Kaliye Wala village in the district on April 14.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was so shocked over the reported involvement of the police that he asked DGP Sumedh Singh Saini to personally supervise the probe. Former MLA Vijay Sathi has demanded that the state government must find out ways to curb the rising crime graph in the district.

Renowned Punjabi poetess Bhupinder Kaur Preet said, “The government needs to adopt a new approach to tackle crime. Since, most crimes are committed by drug addicts, the government should tackle the drug menace.”

Dr Param Gill, Hollywood filmmaker from Moga city, said, “The government needs to take action against the erring policemen to instill a sense of security among the people.” His father Gurdeep Singh Gill, an Akali leader, was murdered in July 2014, but the police have failed to arrest the assailants.