Facebook post about 'missing' Manpreet Badal prompts Punjab Police to register case

Sukhmeet Bhasin
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, April 11

A Facebook post allegedly mocking Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal for having gone missing in the middle of the coronavirus health crisis prompted state police to register a case, police said.

The controversial post said: “Gumshuda Di Talash, Manpreet Badal hua gumshuda, labda fere Punjab, Manpreet Badal di karo talash, disda nahi ke punjab wich hai ya punjab wicho bahar” (Search for missing: Manpreet Badal is missing, Punjab looking for him, we should search for Manpreet. Is he is in Punjab or outside?).

Investigation officer (IO) Senior Inspector Daljit Singh said a case had been registered on the basis of a tip they received, based on which police zeroed in three profiles—one belonging to a person named Gurjinder Singh Brar from Faridkot, another belonging to Amritpal Singh Gill from Khemkaran, and a third profile that went by the name Akali Yodha.

The IDs are believed to belong to Shiromani Akali Dal’s youth workers.

No arrests have been made yet.

Bathinda SSP Dr Nanak Singh said “After registering cases against three Facebook IDs for the post, we have written to Facebook asking for details of the owners of these profiles”.

In his post, Gurjinder Singh Brar allegedly quoted Finance Minister Manpreet Badal as having said: “I am a minister, not clerk”, and allegedly accused the minister of not having the time to review the state’s financial position for ongoing relief operations in the state.

Police have registered a case for disobeying order of a public servant (Section 188); acts leading to spread of infectious diseases (Section 269 and 270); and defamation (Section 500 and 501) of the Indian Penal Code.

This comes a few days after similar post on Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal also did the rounds on social media, but that post saw no police action.