Villagers accuse cops of filing fake case against Dalit couple

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, August 31

Residents of Punnawal village have accused the Nabha police of registering a fake theft case against a Dalit couple when the “cops failed to take away the woman forcibly”.

Earlier, the Dhuri Sadar police had registered a case against the couple and other villagers when they opposed the move of male cops from Nabha to take her forcibly with them without any woman cop from the village on August 17. Several videos of the incident had gone viral on social media.

The villagers on Friday sought the help of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and announced to launch an agitation if the cops did not stop harassing the couple.

Sangrur SSP Dr Sandeep Garg has directed SP, Headquarters, Harinder Singh to conduct a thorough investigation into the case.

“On August 17, Manjit, a farmer from Nabha, with three male cops from the Nabha police station tried to kidnap Paramjit Kaur from her house. However, the villagers thrashed Manjit and got her freed from the police custody. Without any investigation, the Dhuri police registered a false case against the Dalit couple and 12 others on August 17. Now, the Nabha police have registered another false case against the couple. Its injustice,” said Bant Singh Punnawal, former sarpanch of the village.

Paramjit Kaur alleged that Manjit kept her in illegal confinement at Chandigarh and Nabha for seven months. She escaped from his clutches on August 16.

“Manjit along with three cops came to my village to kidnap me on August 17. Now, with the help of the police, he has been threatening me with dire consequences if I didn’t go back to his house. I request the senior authorities to look into the matter,” she said.

“We have registered a case against Paramjit Kaur and her husband Gurjant Singh for theft of cash and gold ornaments from the house of Manjit Singh. We are conducting further investigations,” said ASI Sadha Singh from the Nabha police station, who came with Manjit to Punnawal village on August 16.

He said on August 17 he along with Manjit went to Punnawal to serve summons to Paramjit as Manjit had lodged a theft complaint against her.

The Sangrur SSP said investigations were on in the case and no one would be spared.