SAD leaders lay siege to minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu’s house, seek arrest of MLA Bains

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, July 14

The police had a tough time handling SAD leaders and workers who laid a siege to the residence of Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, demanding immediate arrest of LIP president and Atam Nagar MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains after he was booked in a rape case.

Accusing the police of using brute force against and manhandling senior party leaders, former minister Maheshinder Singh Grewal alleged that the police had behaved in an unwarranted manner while dealing with the protesters. “The police arrangement to stop the protesting SAD activists outside the minister’s residence was so heavy as if we were launching an attack on Ashu’s house rather than holding a peaceful protest in support of a genuine and just demand,” Grewal said.

Cops accused of manhandling party leaders

Accusing the police of using brute force against and manhandling senior party leaders, former minister Maheshinder Singh Grewal alleged that the police had behaved in an unwarranted manner while dealing with the protesters.

However, police officials denied using force against the protesters. “We had put up barricades to prevent anyone entering the residence of the minister. Some of the protesters were pushed back when they were making attempts to cross over the barricades,” a police official said.

Grewal, former ministers Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, Hira Singh Gabria, former MLA Harish Rai Dhanda, district president Ranjit Singh Dhillon, former mayor HS Gohalwaria and a few other leaders alleged that they were roughed up.

After a prolonged battle of wits between the police force and the protesters, several senior leaders were loaded in a bus to ferry them to the Sarabha Nagar police station. But one of the tyres of the police bus was deflated by someone and the protesters were asked to disembark. They were then taken to nearby police stations and let off after a while.

The SAD leaders asserted that the rape victim, a 40-year-old widow, had lodged a complaint against Simarjeet Singh Bains about seven months ago but under instructions from the ruling Congress government, and specifically Cabinet Minister Ashu, the police had failed to act on the complaint. It was only after a local court issued directions to the police that an FIR was lodged on July 10, 2021.

“Even now, the police are treating this sensitive matter with kid gloves, against all legal norms and directions of the Apex Court, as there has been no apparent attempt to arrest Bains,” an Akali leader said.