Sitting or retired HC judge must inquire Colonel assault case: Cong leader

Punjab Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Friday demanded that a sitting or retired high court judge should inquire the complaint by an Army Colonel that he and his son were thrashed by 12 state police officials.

"We demand an inquiry by a sitting or retired high court judge into the incident," Bajwa told reporters in Chandigarh, ahead of the opening day of the budget session of Punjab Assembly.

Calling it a serious incident, the Congress leader said all the "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.

Bajwa, who is Leader of Opposition in Punjab, also slammed the Bhagwant Mann government over the "deceitful" detention of several farmer leaders.

He said the heavy 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 Army Colonel, who had accused 12 police officials of thrashing him and his son over a parking dispute, met the Punjab Governor on Thursday and sought a CBI probe into the incident.

The family also rejected the probe by an executive magistrate ordered by the Punjab government.

The state government on Thursday appointed IAS officer Paramvir Singh, who is 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 Pushpinder Singh Bath and his son were at a roadside eatery near Government Rajindra Hospital Patiala.

The family had alleged that when the two were standing outside the car and having food, some police officials, who were in civil dress, 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 long cut on his head. The Colonel is currently posted at Army Headquarters, New Delhi.

Punjab Police on Monday suspended 12 police officials in Chandigarh and also initiated departmental inquiries against them.

The Colonel's wife, Jaswinder Kaur Bath, her son and another relative on Thursday evening met Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria at Raj Bhavan.

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