3 SSPs of Gurdaspur constituency replaced

Ravi Dhaliwal

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Gurdaspur, July 22

All three police chiefs of the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency have been shifted. Now, all eyes will be on the new ones as an assortment of challenges await them in this border area. The Gurdaspur parliamentary seat has three police districts — Gurdaspur, Batala and Pathankot.

In Gurdaspur, Harjit Singh has been replaced after being at the helm of affairs for just three months. Residents were happy with the way he tackled some sensitive cases, including the one pertaining to the three doctors who were booked under Section 304 of the IPC. That was till the doctors’ lobby came on a joint platform to virtually arm-twist the SSP to replace Section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) with 304-A (causing death due to negligence).

On the very day Harjit Singh took over from Nanak Singh, he had to face the wrath of the family members of a four-year-old schoolgirl, who was allegedly raped. Irate relatives blocked the Amritsar-Pathankot National Highway. The blockade went for several hours. Tourists travelling to the Vaishno Devi shrine near Jammu got stuck in the blockade. Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ishfaq received orders from senior officers to clear the protesters.

One of the main demands of the protesters was that school owner SS Gill should be booked. The cops gave into the demands of the protesters and booked Gill. This was, perhaps, the only incident which spoiled the SSP’s record.

IPS officer Deepak Hilori, who has remained chief of several districts including the neighbouring Batala and Pathankot, is the new man in.

Incidents of chain snatching and vehicle theft had come down substantially during Harjit Singh’s tenure. And so did robberies and attacks at night.

In Pathankot, SSP Arun Saini, like his Gurdaspur counterpart, too had a term of just three months. His successor Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh will have to increase vigil on the International Border (IB), particularly in the Bamiyal area, where intruders from Pakistan regularly make their way into India. The four militants who walked into the Air Force station in January, 2016, had walked in from Bamiyal.

Batala is famous, rather infamous, for the speedy change in police chiefs. In the last six years, more than a dozen officers have occupied the SSP’s chair. This time was no different with Rajpal Singh staying for just three months. This police district is considered to be the “politically hottest district” in Punjab where officers are changed at the drop of a hat at the behest of politicians.

Some like Harpreet Singh have had tenure of 49 days. The longest serving chief in recent years has been Opinderjit Singh Ghuman who had an uninterrupted three-year run. A former SSP, when asked whether he would like to return to Batala, said, “I will not touch the SSP’s chair even with a bargepole.” The new man, Satinder Singh, will be up against problems of an assorted nature.