Ex-servicemen associations call for boycotting Punjab govt’s I-Day functions
One of the triggers for the boycott is the manner in which Colonel P S Bath’s case was handled by the Punjab Police.
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Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann (Source: FB)Several ex-servicemen associations of Punjab have declared boycott of the state’s functions marking the Independence Day on August 15 in protest against the ill-treatment of military personnel by the Punjab Police and government agencies.
One of the triggers for the boycott is the manner in which Colonel P S Bath’s case was handled by the Punjab Police. It is alleged that Patiala police attempted to drag Bath’s feet while lodging an FIR against the cops accused of assaulting the Colonel and his son in Patiala in March on the intervening night of March 13 and 14, and subsequent efforts by Patiala police to hush up the case.
The other case pertaining to a Naik of Defence Security Corps (DSC) in Malerkotla is also being highlighted by the associations. A woman SHO of Malerkotla police was accused of deliberately not registering an FIR about an incident where a DSC Naik was beaten up by some people over a plot of land. The assault took place on August 4 in Ahmedgarh wherein Abdul Sattar, a serving jawan in the Indian Army posted at Bathinda, was injured.
Lt Col SS Sohi (retd), president of Ex-servicemen Grievances Cell, Mohali, told The Indian Express that the decision to boycott the state’s functions was to show resentment and anger regarding the police brutality against Colonel P S Bath and DSC Naik Sattar.
Sohi referred to the incident in Malerkotla and said: “When he (Sattar) approached the police station, the lady SHO refused to register an FIR and asked him to go to hospital on his own.”
The SHO also stopped a policeman who tried to take the injured to the hospital, he said adding that: “It is only when the SSP intervened that an FIR was registered.”
“The insensitivity shown by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Colonel Bath’s case was very unfortunate… a consistent apathy shown to serving personnel and ex-servicemen by the government and therefore we have decided not to participate in the Punjab government’s functions on August 15.”
When contacted, SSP Malerkotla Gagan Ajit Singh, said prompt action was taken in the case of the soldier’s personal dispute. “An FIR was registered and one of the accused has been arrested while two are absconding but will be arrested soon.”
The president of All India Defence Brotherhood, Brig Harwant Singh (retd), said the veteran communities have the right to protest against the police’s highhandedness. “We must have a sense of shame that our officers and troops are treated in this manner by Punjab Police. When our soldiers die in J&K and come home wrapped in coffins, these policemen salute their dead bodies, but when they are alive they thrash them.”
Harwant also said it was improper for the CM to not have done anything despite meeting Col Bath and his family.
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