Cops accused of assault

Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, March 23

Accusing the police of assaulting two health workers on duty, members of the Paramedical and Health Workers’ Union on Monday demanded action against police personnel, including DSP Jagdish Raj Attri.

Union leaders said they went to the Civil Surgeon’s office to narrate the incident and tried to talk to the DSP in this regard, but police personnel threatened them to book for obstructing them from performing their duty.

Union leaders threatened to boycott duty from Tuesday if action was not taken against DSP Attri and other policemen. Jaswinder Singh, a member of the Paramedical and Health Workers’ Union, said, “As per the instructions of the government, multipurpose male health workers Gurdeep Singh and Sukhwinderpal from the office of the Civil Surgeon were on duty to find those who came from abroad and paste stickers outside their houses. Around 11 am, they were stopped by the police at Ghanta Ghar Chowk. They told police personnel that they were employees of the Health Department and they showed their identification cards. Despite seeing the cards, DSP Attri, SHO Govinder Kumar and other police personnel beat them up. The policemen also abused and vandalised their scooter.”

A complaint in this regard has been made to the Deputy Commissioner through the Civil Surgeon after getting medical examination of both victims done.

When contacted, DSP Attri said, “Allegations of assault are baseless and no one was beaten up. The health workers arrogantly talked to police personnel who had stopped them to enquire about the purpose of commuting. During the lockdown, the staff misbehaved with the police personnel. Later, other persons came in a car and started arguing with policemen on duty and started making videos.”