Congress quotes US example to resolve Patiala colonel assault case

Former Punjab Legislative Assembly Speaker and Chairman of the Congress Campaign Committee, Rana KP Singh, on Monday suggested that the Director General of Police (DGP) should intervene in the Patiala colonel assault case by calling both the parties and making them sit together.

Advertisement

Rana, while speaking to The Tribune, quoted a US incident where an Afro-American Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates was mistakenly arrested by the police while trying to break open the lock of his own house as he had forgotten his keys.

“Gates had returned from China and forgot the keys somewhere. He, with the help of his driver, tried to break the locks. In the meanwhile, a neighbour complained to police about a possible robbery,” he recalled, while adding that when the police team, led by Sergeant James Crowley, who was a white American, reached the spot, he arrested Prof Gates, despite him explaining everything to him (the Sergeant). It led to a racial polarisation with the Afro-Americans siding with Prof Gates, and some white racists siding with Sgt Crowley.

Rana said what was a small local issue has turned into a national controversy. He said Barack Obama, who was the President then, defused the situation by calling both Prof Gates and Sgt Crowley to White House to discuss the matter “over beer”. They were joined by the then Vice President Joe Biden and the matter was cordially resolved in what later became known as “beer summit”.

The former Punjab Assembly Speaker said both the Army and the Police are important for the country and both are highly respected. He observed that this is like a road rage issue, where none of the rival parties had any premeditated intention to harm each other.

He pointed out that given the polarised support between the two rival parties now, it would be in the best interest of the state, if the Punjab DGP calls both of them and makes them sit across the table over a cup of tea and let the bygones be bygones. He added that the issue was unnecessarily being dragged and blown out of proportion, as it was not really an “army-police” clash, as it is made to be.