Look into villagers’ complaint against Sukhbir, SAD leaders, HC tells SSP

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 31

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has directed the Bathinda SSP to look into a complaint of Mandi Kalan village residents, seeking protection of their life and liberty. Residents of the village had filed a petition against Sukhbir Singh Badal and other SAD leaders for threatening them.

High Court judge Justice Ramendra Jain has stated in the order that counsel of petitioners had contended that the purpose would be achieved if Bathinda SSP was directed to look into the representation, dated May 15, 2019, filed by the petitioners before him. Justice Jain disposed of the petition with a direction to the SSP to look into the representation in a time-bound manner.

SSP Nanak Singh said he had received a copy of the High Court order to decide on the representation of the Mandi Kalan village residents and was working on it.

While addressing a press conference on May 11, Balraj Singh, president of BKU Sidhupur, Gurdeep Singh and other residents of Mandi Kalan village, had stated that Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who was SAD candidate from Bathinda Parliamentary Constituency, was to visit the village at 2.30 pm for campaigning. Before her arrival, a large number of villagers gathered to protest the non-implementation of Swaminathan report and no action taken against the accused of the sacrilege incident.

As they were holding a protest, Harsimrat decided not to come to the village. Around 9.30 pm the same day, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, along Sukhbir Badal, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Sikander Singh Maluka and more than 500 other persons, came to the village and threatened the residents of dire consequence and of implicating them in false cases.

The residents had claimed that if any untoward incident involving any of them took place, Harsimrat Kaur, Sukhbir Badal, Janmeja Sekhon and Jagjit Singh, Mandi Kalan MC, should be held responsible for it.

They had demanded that a case be registered against the SAD leaders and that the villagers should be given protection for life and liberty.