Accused Johal married Shahkot girl 19 days ago

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 8

Balwinder Singh of Sohal Jagir village in Shahkot is in distress. It had been just 19 days since he married his daughter Gurpreet Kaur to UK-based NRI Jagtar Singh Johal of Jandiala Manjhki village near here with much fanfare. Johal is one of the accused arrested in the high-profile targeted killings in Punjab.

Their trauma just does not end here. While their son-in-law is behind bars, they have not been able to have any contact with their daughter or her in-laws for the past four days since Johal had been arrested.

While all excitement of getting their daughter married to a UK-based hotelier came crashing, the family is in trouble as they are being repeatedly questioned by the police regarding passports of the couple and their whereabouts.

Girl’s mother Amandeep Kaur says, “How can we have their passports when they were planning to go to Singapore for honeymoon after some days?” The marriage was solemnised at Nagina Fort in Nakodar on October 18. The couple had come to Jalandhar for some work four days ago and were heading to Chandigarh when the police arrested Johal from near the Dakoha railway crossing.

“It was last evening that we came to know that the police are blaming Johal for funding weapons used in these killings. We feel that he has been wrongly implicated. We knew the family for long. We had fixed the marriage when he had come here in April,” she said.

A family member said, “We were shocked when Gurpreet told us about the arrest on phone. She came back to her in-laws after this. After that day, we have neither been able to contact her nor any other member from her in-laws”.

Balwinder is a farmer and also manages a village gurdwara. “Gurpreet had done nursing course believing that it has good scope abroad. Balwinder now wants his daughter back with him,” shared the family member.