Sarpanch, son arrested on AAP MLA’s complaint; former MLA protests

Arora claimed that when they reached the spot, they saw that the sarpanch had occupied the property by ‘tying his animals’ in the dispensary. “The sarpanch was given the deadline to vacate the property by May 31 but he started misbehaving, hurling abuses and also got a stick. His son also misbehaved,” says the police complaint filed by Baljinder Singh, MLA’s PA on the basis of which an FIR was registered at Moga Sadar police station.

On the other hand, after police arrested sarpanch Harnek Singh and his son Satnam Singh, former Moga MLA Dr Harjot Kamal, who had defected from Congress to BJP ahead of Punjab elections, started protest outside Arora’s office alleging that AAP MLA of misusing her position and getting wrong FIR filed against the sarpanch and his son by ‘pressurizing the Moga SSP.’

“An MLA is a public representative, not a public servant. It is the work of administration and government officials to go to the spot and get illegal possessions removed, not of the MLA. A poor sarpanch and his son have been booked and arrested just because they did not accept the high-handedness of the MLA and a group of AAP MLAs who accompanied her. She went there and created a scene herself instead of informing local administration and taking officials along. Then she is showing her brother as her PA to get the FIR registered. You can’t go and threaten people just because you are an MLA. Even as they were given time to vacate the property by May 31, the MLA and her workers misbehaved with the sarpanch who is elected by the villagers, and threatened them. MLA cannot overstep officers and personally threaten people to vacate properties,” said Dr Kamal.

Police booked Sarpanch and his son under the sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 186 (voluntarily obstructing public servant from discharge of his work), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 294 (obscene acts and songs) of IPC in an FIR registered at Moga Sadar police station.

Objecting to the sections of the IPC under which the sarpanch has been booked, Kamal said: “This is heights of arrogance and misusing your power as MLA. An MLA is not a public servant but a people’s representative and police have put the sections which are for obstruction of work of a public servant. She went there with her own army of AAP workers, not officials. It has just been two months and this is how arrogantly AAP MLAs are behaving with the people.”