The Tribune – Police pats itself for ‘peaceful’ polling

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 20. The Punjab Police today claimed it had been able to conduct the panchayat samiti and zila parishad elections “successfully” and that it was a “great achievement” that there was not a single case of use of firearms or fatality.

C S R Reddy, Additional DGP, Election Cell, made this claim at a press conference, chaired by state police chief Sumedh Singh Saini, here today. Reddy claimed that elections to panchayati raj institutions held in the state in 2005 and 2008 had witnessed incidents of murder, attempt to murder and use of weapons.

He said only 18 incidents of violence had been reported yesterday and that re-polling had been ordered in just nine booths. Reddy claimed the police had been successful in curtailing violence because it had set up election cells in all districts, deputed personnel at the booth level, created 638 mobile parties and had a reserve force in place as part of its second response team.

On the Lambi violence, Saini said Congress activists had set some vehicles ablaze and that action was being taken in this regard.

He indicated that cases of violence during electioneering were a result of personal feuds. He said PPP’s Jaspreet Singh Jassa, who was killed in Adampur, Bathinda, became a victim of a gang war between “habitual criminals.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130521/punjab.htm#2

The Tribune – Punjab Police shows its brutal face again

Gurbax Puri and Manmeet Singh Gill, Tribune News Service

Tarn Taran, March 4. In a shocking case of police brutality, policemen thrashed a victim of alleged sexual harassment and her father, instead of helping them.

The footage of the shocking incident, which took place outside a marriage palace in broad daylight yesterday, was shot on a mobile phone by an eyewitness.

Initially, the police officials denied the charge, but promised action after they came to know that the video footage of the incident was being aired on various TV channels.

The girl was harassed at Punjab International Marriage Palace on the Goindwal road. She informed her family members that Sahib Singh, who was accompanying the “baraat” as a driver of a hired vehicle, and Soshi were harassing here. Members of the family thrashed the boys, who later called the police.

The victim’s family alleged that instead of punishing the eve teasers, the cops started beating up the victim and her father.

The entire episode was recorded by an onlooker on his mobile phone.

The video footage shows around six men in police uniform surrounding the girl and her father while three of them are slapping and thrashing them on a busy road.

The victim later filed a complaint against 17 policemen and three others.

DSP Daljit Singh Dhillon said two policemen-head constable Davinder Singh and Constable Saraj Singh-had been suspended and a case registered against Sahib Singh and Soshi.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130305/main6.htm

The Tribune – HC raps Punjab Police for shielding culprits

Saurabh Malik, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 24. In an unusual and damning judgment by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the functioning of the law enforcement agency in Punjab, the Bench has minced no words to say that the tendency to prepare multiple reports by Punjab Police officers for exonerating the accused or substituting them was “tremendously” increasing.

Indicting the police in severe terms, Justice Mehinder Singh Sullar also directed the Principal Secretary (Home) to intervene. “This illegal conduct of the Punjab Police is giving rise to multiplicity of variety of litigation,” Justice Sullar asserted.

The scathing observations, made in a five-page order, a copy of which is in possession of The Tribune, have far-reaching consequences not just for the much-criticised Punjab Police but also for those implicated by the police for giving clean chit to culprits.

The Case

During the preliminary hearing of a petition, Poonam Anand versus the State of Punjab, it transpired that initially a criminal case was registered, among others, against accused Inderjit Anand, his son Navil Anand, wife Poonam Anand, brother Harish Kumar Anand, Sudhir Syal, Upesh Kumar Gupta, Krishan Kumar Gupta and Dheeraj Walia on the complaint of Punjab National Bank’s senior manager.

The FIR was registered at a Ludhiana police station on March 2 for cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and other offences on the allegations of preparing and using “false and forged cheque as genuine and apportionment of fraudulently withdrawn huge amount” on the basis of the forged cheques. After the completion of investigation, the challan or the final report was submitted against all the accused.

The Anomaly

Justice Sullar asserted: “Although legally speaking, the police almost becomes functus-officio (having discharged duty) after submission of the final police report as contemplated under Section 173 of the CrPC, except further investigation in case some fresh evidence is obtained, that too with the prior approval of the trial court”.

Referring to the case in hand, Justice Sullar added “strange enough” a police party, in garb of subsequent reinvestigation after the submission of challan, exonerated accused Harish Anand, Navil Anand and Poonam Anand on an application filed by an accused.

Again, the police exonerated the remaining accused Sudhir Syal, Krishan Kumar Gupta and Upesh Kumar Gupta by submitting a second report.

The Observations

Justice Sullar ruled: “As strange as it may sound, strictly and truly speaking, the tendency and frequency of some of the officers of the Punjab Police to prepare subsequent report of reinvestigation, exonerating or substituting the accused after the submission of final report has been tremendously increasing day by day… To my mind, it’s a very serious lapse, which requires immediate attention of the appropriate state authorities in order to maintain the rule of law.

Therefore, the Principal Secretary, Home, is directed to conduct a detailed inquiry into the matter, fix responsibility, take appropriate action against the erring police officers, suggest remedial measures in order to avoid any reoccurrence of such illegal events in future and submit his report to the court within two months positively”.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121125/punjab.htm#1

The Tribune – International Day against Drug Abuse; Police helps 23 addicts turn a new leaf

Archit Watts, Tribune News Service

Muktsar, June 25. The Muktsar police claims to have changed the lives of 23 addicts after they were admitted to the de-addiction centre at the Malout Civil Hospital.

On the initiative of the district police, at least 31 addicts were admitted to the hospital in mid-May. The police held awareness camps in villages and motivated the addicts to reform their ways.

Mukhwinder Singh, Malout DSP, said: “With the help of panchayat members and doctors, we held meetings with addicts and counselled them. They were motivated to quit the habit. We were successful in admitting 31 addicts to the de-addiction centre in a month.”

The DSP said none was coerced into quitting drugs. Each of the 31 addicts had volunteered to be admitted to the hospital where they were treated by a well-trained staff free of cost.

Psychiatrist Dr Rashmi Chawla said: “Motivated by the police, addicts from Phullukhera, Karamgarh, Gurusar, Sikhwala, Raniwala, Ina Khera and Rattakhera villages volunteered to be treated at the hospital. After being cured, all of them left on oath that they would not take to drugs again.”

Dr Chawla said the last batch of eight patients discharged a day ago had been asked to return for a follow-up.

Showering praise on the district police, she said the treatment comprised counselling, motivational talk and administering medicine.

Dismal Scenario

Punjab ranks second in drug abuse having around 14,000 addicts

26% of the addicts are HIV positive

Children are most susceptible to drug addiction

Punjab borders Pakistan making the state the first transit point for smuggled drugs

Of the 88 self-proclaimed de-addiction centres in Punjab, only 23 are official

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120626/punjab.htm#5

The Tribune – Police told to destroy RDX in malkhanas

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 5. The Punjab Police was today directed to destroy RDX and other explosive materials lying in police station malkhanas in the state.

The direction came on a PIL filed by advocate HC Arora for directions to the Punjab Police and army authorities to jointly destroy the stocks of RDX and explosive materials lying in the malkhanas all over the state.

As the case came up for hearing before Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mahesh Grover on the previous date of hearing, the High Court directed the Union Home Ministry to take a decision on the representation submitted by the Punjab government for deputing a specialist unit of the Army for destroying the explosive material, including RDX.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120306/punjab.htm#11

The Tribune – Mystery Killing; No headway in DSP’s murder

Mohit Khanna, Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 3. Nearly 48 hours after Moga DSP Balraj Singh Gill and Monica Kapila, wife of an industrialist, were found dead at a farmhouse on Hambran road here yesterday, the police is still groping in the dark. The probe, so far, has indicated that the cop and the woman reached the farmhouse separately. The DSP was the first to reach the farmhouse and invited Monica.

The police appears to have concluded that Balraj and Monica arrived at the farmhouse in different cars. But the vehicles haven’t been located.

“The DSP was the first one to enter the farmhouse. He came in his friend’s Chevrolet. The woman arrived in Toyota Innova.

The killers fled with both the vehicles and also took away gold rings and purses. Besides, they also took away the mobile phones of both the victims,” said a police officer.

The theory of robbery by a group of drug addicts is also doing the rounds. According to the police, the assailants might have spotted the smartly dressed woman driving alone at a secluded place and could have followed her. They could have gained entry in the farmhouse along with the woman. On seeing the woman in trouble, the DSP might have tried to rescue her which led to a scuffle. The attackers then assaulted the cop with sharp-edged weapons.

But the brutality by which the DSP had been murdered with his neck almost chopped off did not support the view that the incident was a result of a sudden provocation.

Sources in the police said the DSP and the woman met six months ago during a morning walk and had been talking to each other over the phone.

They had only met thrice in the past. The two victims were meeting after a gap of over a month as the DSP was busy in Moga for the Assembly elections.

A common friend of both the victims had reportedly told the police that Monica and Balraj came in contact a few months ago when Monica called at the DSP’s mobile phone by mistake.

On the ill-fated day, the DSP was unarmed. His service revolver was found a day later from his house.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashish Choudhary said, “We are probing the issue from all angles and the criminals would be nabbed soon.” Sources said that 17 suspects from Noorpur Bet and Hambran area had been picked up by the police for investigation. Following postmortem examination, Monica was cremated here today.

Multiple weapons

- The postmortem report shows a baseball bat, sword, sickle and knife were used in the crime

- The assailants attacked the DSP on the head with a baseball bat which broke his skull. Then, the attackers used a sickle or sword to kill him

- Monica was also killed brutally. Her jaw was broken. There were multiple wounds on her left arm

Shoddy probe

Shoddy investigation by the cops has led to the destruction of vital clues. It is learnt that on finding the door locked from outside, police personnel scaled the wall and entered the premises. On seeing the duo lying in a pool of blood, they came outside and broke open the lock which had the fingerprints of the assailants.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120204/main4.htm

The Tribune – Police launches drive to check flow of drugs into Patiala

Aman Sood, Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 9 With assembly elections round the corner in the state, the police is taking stringent measures to check flow of drugs from nearby states in the district. The district police had seized 150 quintal poppy husk and whopping 325 kg opium in the past few months, which speaks volumes about this trade.

The recent recoveries, especially of opium and poppy husk, have astonished not only the state police, but also the intelligence agencies. With elections almost a couple of months away, demand for the drugs is all time high in the state.

Following recent recoveries of drugs from numerous persons in the recent past, the district police has started a special campaign to check the flow of drugs in Punjab, especially through Patiala as a ‘transit route’. With hard work, the police was able to crack and identify routes and accused involved in this trade.

Patiala SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill told TNS that excess production in Rajasthan and Punjab’s border with Pakistan ensure regular supply of contrabands in Punjab and Patiala is fast emerging as a favourite destination. “We have recently recovered over two quintals of opium and many other drugs, including smack from peddlers,” he said.

An officer deputed with the Crime Investigating Agency confirmed that the peddlers had recently adopted another method of smuggling wherein they use couriers to send contrabands. “Couriers are easily available for a few thousand rupees and once they deliver it in Punjab, the amount they make is big”, he said. “These drugs, beyond doubt, are for the youth and with elections round the corner, their free and regular supply cannot be ruled out. The election commission should also ensure that all districts, especially Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Bathinda should have special operation cells to check contraband inflow”, claimed a senior police officer.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111210/punjab.htm#12

431.Sikh Ultras in Panjab

Sikhs used to be terrorists, fundamentalists, agents of the ISI, but the new buzz word is ‘Sikh Ultras’. According to the Panjab Police, the Badal Dal, Amarinder Singh and the Tribune there are Sikh Ultras, mainly from Babar Khalsa, who want to revive the Sikh terrorism of the Seventies, Eighties and early Nineties.

There appears to be a Singh behind it all, loads of RDX and other evil stuff has been confiscated and some people have been arrested. Family and friends loudly protest their innocence and allege that the arrested persons have been tortured.

In the late nineties when I lived in Panjab stories about dangerous people who were smuggled in from across the Pakistan border by the ISI, carrying weapons, ammunition and explosives, kept popping up in the press. ‘After some time’ the arrested people were discretely set free, and the ‘confiscated’ weapons etc were redeployed in the next fake arrest of ‘dangerous Khalistanis’.

I do not live in Panjab anymore, and although I try to keep in close touch with events there, it is more difficult for me to judge the present stories. I have a working theory which fits in with impressions of the mood of people on the fringe of the Khalistani movement, and with past experience of Indian practices.

There are people on the fringe of the ‘established’ Khalistani movements in countries like Canada, the UK, USA and Malaysia who are angry that so many years after 1984 the culprits of the killings in Harmandar Sahib and in Delhi and other Congress ruled cities have not been prosecuted and that no real progress has been made towards establishing Khalistan.

They have no patience with the long term strategies of the established Khalistani organisations and are looking for action, in their home countries action against what are seen as anti panthic elements, but also direct action in Panjab itself.

When I visited Lahore in 1996 and 1997 I met ‘diaspora’ Sikhs who go to Pakistan and volunteer to go into the east Panjab and explode bombs or kill politicians. The persons I met never made it across the border, all they did was shuttle between Lahore and their Islamabad ISI contacts in the hope to progress their plans.

We all know that the Pakistani army and the ISI have never been under control of the Pakistani governments, not even of the military ones.

Looking at what is served up by the Panjabi press I think that that there might be at least one real incident with some kind of Khalistani connection, and that the rest are the usual scare stories and finds of the same weapons etc again and again.

The use of violence in India or elsewhere will not be of any benefit to the Sikh Qaum. Just like in the days of Indira Gandhi, Sikh violence will only give an excuse to politicians in India and elsewhere to implement anti-Sikh measures.