Casteist remark: Villagers accuse police of inaction, hold protest

Residents of village Baghana staged a protest today at the village Dharamshala against the Rawalpindi police, accusing them of inaction under political pressure in a casteist slur case. The protesters raised slogans against the government and Phagwara police, demanding justice in the case.

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Speaking during the protest, former Sarpanch Desraj Mehta, Amarjeet Pabbi, Nirmala Devi, Ram Lubhaya Panch, Sachin Kumar Panch, Amarjeet Kumar, Raman Deep Mehta, Ram Lal, Kishan Singh Fauji and Raman Kumar alleged that the police were acting unfairly. They pointed out that while the police registered a case against a councillor and journalist without proper investigation based on a woman's complaint, they have been delaying action on another complaint filed by the sitting village sarpanch.

Sarpanch Balwinder Kumar Baghana stated that on February 2, he had lodged a complaint against Gurpreet Singh Cheema of Baghana for using casteist slurs and abusing him. He claimed to have evidence to support his complaint, which he had submitted to the police and SP, Phagwara. However, he alleged that no FIR had been registered against the accused so far, who continues to issue threats.

The villagers warned that if immediate action was not taken against the accused, they would escalate the matter by involving Dalit organisations and gherao police officials.

SHO, Rawalpindi police station, Ashok Kumar, stated that the DSP, Phagwara, was investigating the complaint filed by the sarpanch.

Prominent among those present at the protest were Bawa Singh, Boota Ram, Parveen Kumar, Balwinder Singh, Saroop Chand, Pakhar Ram, Darshan Singh, Lakhwinder Kumar, Jaswinder Pal, Jatinder Kumar, Jasvir Kumar, Harish Kumar, Bhajan Lal, Gurmeet Kaur, Rani, Asha, Gyan Kaur, Mahinder Kaur, Jyoti, Pooja, Sukhwinder Kaur, Manjeet Kaur, Amarjeet Kaur, Harjeet Kaur, Kamaljeet Kaur, Prakash Kaur, Kanta Devi, Baljeet Kaur, Gurpreet Singh, Ranjit Kumar, Nirmal Chand, Gurmeet Ram, Harjeet Singh, and Krishna Devi, among others.