Curfew continues in Gurdaspur, Badal orders probe

Gurdaspur, Punjab: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Friday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the violence in Gurdaspur, where curfew continued after a youth was killed in police firing following a clash over the fate of Balwant Singh Rajoana, on death row for the 1995 assassination of then chief minister Beant Singh.

Curfew had been imposed in Gurdaspur, 210 km from here, following the violence Thursday.

A district administration official said curfew would continue Friday and may be relaxed only later in the day.

A spokesperson in the chief minister’s office said Badal had directed the Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Mohinder Singh Kainth to get the magisterial inquiry conducted at the earliest.

The inquiry will be conducted by Gurdaspur sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Tajinder Pal Singh Sandhu.

Badal also appealed to people to exercise restraint and maintain peace, communal harmony and amity.

Jaspal Singh, 18, was brutually killed in Gurdaspur by Punjab Police firing on Thursday. Another person was shot in the chest and lodged in ICU.

The clash between two groups, one from Hindu radical organization Shiv Sena and another involving local non-profit Sikh organisations, took place in the presence of police. Shiv Sena was calling for illegal bandh on Thursday and planned to burn effigy of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana along with turbans.

Shiv Sena Gurdaspur Chief Harvinder Soni smashed motorcycles of Singhs on 28th March and then He called for Gurdaspur Bandh on 29th and also burnt effigy of Bhai Rajoana and raised insulting slogans against Sikhs.

To get back the Turban of Singh and make this person apologize , Singhs were protesting peacefully on 29th, But this person along with dozen gangsters attacked Singhs. Police sided with him and fired upon Singhs which led to death of 18 years old college student and critical injured many others.

Police sources said they intervened with canes and then fired in the air. It also opened fire at Sikhs, resulting in the death of the teenager, police said.

Punjab’s Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) SK Sharma said that police justified the action.