Congress walks out of Punjab assembly over colonel’s assault, action against farmers

Punjab Congress members staged a walkout from the Punjab assembly on Friday over the brutal police assault on a serving army colonel and his son in Patiala and the police action against farmers protesting at Shambhu and Khanauri borders with Haryana.

During the governor’s address on the opening day of the budget session of the assembly, leader of opposition and Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa got up and sought to draw Gulab Chand Kataria’s attention barely a few minutes after he started his address. As the governor did not pay attention and continued reading his speech, Bajwa and other Congress members entered the well of the House, raising slogans against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

They displayed placards to criticise the Bhagwant Mann government in the state for betraying farmers. The Congress legislators raised slogans for a few minutes before staging the walkout.

Demands judicial inquiry into Colonel’s assault

Earlier, Bajwa demanded that a sitting or retired high court judge inquire into the assault of Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath and his 22-year-old son Angad allegedly by 12 Punjab Police officials on March 13. “We demand an inquiry by a sitting or retired high court judge into the incident,” Bajwa told reporters before heading into the assembly.

Calling it a serious incident, the Congress leader said all erring Punjab Police officials should be arrested and dismissed from service. “Recently, (AAP national convener) Arvind Kejriwal was in Punjab, but neither he nor Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann have uttered a word about the incident,” he said.

Condemns ‘deceitful detention’ of farmers

Bajwa also slammed the Mann government over the “deceitful detention” of farmer leaders.

He said the barricades at the protest sites in Shambhu and Khanauri border were not put up by Punjab farmers, but the Haryana government.

Punjab Police detained several farmer leaders, including Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, in Mohali on Wednesday as they were returning after a meeting with a central delegation led by Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, the family of the colonel, who accused 12 police officials of thrashing him and his son over a parking dispute, met the governor on Thursday and sought a CBI probe into the incident. The family rejected the probe by an executive magistrate ordered by the Punjab government.

The state government on Thursday appointed IAS officer Paramvir Singh, who is the municipal corporation commissioner of Patiala, as an inquiry officer to probe the incident after the family expressed dissatisfaction with the ongoing probe.

The incident took place on the intervening night of March 13 and 14, when Colonel Bath and his son were at a roadside eatery near Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala.

The family had alleged that when the two were standing outside the car and having food, some police officials, who were in civvies, reached the spot and asked the Colonel to remove his vehicle as they had to park theirs.

When the Colonel objected to their rude tone, one of them punched him and later all police personnel thrashed him and his son. The Colonel’s arm was broken and his son suffered a cut on his head. The Colonel is posted at the army headquarters, New Delhi.

The police placed all 12 officials under suspension on Monday and initiated departmental inquiries against them.

The colonel’s wife, Jaswinder Kaur, her son and another relative met governor Kataria at Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening.

She alleged that 12 policemen, who allegedly thrashed her husband and son, had yet not been named in the FIR.