Baupur Bet residents hold sit-in outside police station

Jalandhar, October 3

Residents of Baupur Bet village, Shahkot, held a dharna in front of the Shahkot police station here today. They were protesting the police inaction against drug abusers who fired at them during a “thikri pehra” a week ago.

In their ongoing drive against drug menace, the villagers have been managing the entry and exit of outsiders to the village. On September 26, youths of the village stopped bikers at a barricading. They fired at them in order to flee the spot. Luckily, no one got hurt in the incident. However, the matter assumed serious proportions and the villagers have since then been demanding their arrest.

Members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and other farmer associations organised the protest today.

Mohan Singh Bal, district president, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), said though a father-son duo from the village, who sold drugs to the bike-borne youth on September 26, had been arrested, the police were acting soft against the youth from outside who came to procure intoxicants from them.

The suspects and their accomplices were threatening the youths with dire consequences.

Shahkot DSP Narinder S Aujla said one of the suspects in the firing incident had been arrested and the other one had also been identified. “We will arrest him too,” he said. On the assurance by the DSP, the villagers handed over a memorandum to the DSP and ended the sit-in.