Gurdaspur: Protesters 'arm-twist' cops to lodge cases

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, May 12

Blocking the national highway (NH), and consequently putting thousands of commuters to inconvenience, has become the rule rather than an exception in Gurdaspur.

A Dinanagar school boy, riding a motorcycle, died recently after colliding with another biker. It was an open and shut case where Section 304-A (death due to negligence) should have been clamped on the erring motorcyclist. However, the kin of the deceased went on a rampage and blocked the busy Gurdaspur-Pathankot road, claiming “the boy was bludgeoned to death.” A case under Section 302 of the IPC was registered.

SSP Harjit Singh constituted an SIT which reported that it was a “clear-cut case of an accident.” “We were arm-twisted into filing a murder case,” said a senior officer.

Last month, an education provider was sent to jail under similar circumstances. The parents of a minor rape victim blocked the Amritsar-Pathankot road for 10 hours, following which the police came under pressure. A compromise was reached in which the education provider was asked to surrender. “They virtually forced us into adding Sections 109/115, IPC, where there was no need to do so,” a senior officer said.

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