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This is an archive article published on October 22, 2018

Amritsar train tragedy: Man who lost son confronts Sidhu, gets ‘unsatisfactory’ reply

Navjot Singh Sidhu had come to the hospital to meet the injured victims of the train accident at Jora Phatak in Dhobi Ghat area which took the life of 59 people.

Amritsar train tragedy: Sidhu confronted by man who lost his son; demands FIR against organizers Navjot Singh Sidhu meets the injured at Civil Hospital in Amritsar on Sunday. (Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh)

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu found himself in an uncomfortable position on Sunday when a man, who lost his son in the train tragedy in Amritsar on Friday, confronted him at the Civil Hospital. Vicky Sanotra, whose son Vasu (17) died in the accident, stood outside the hospital for two hours to question Sidhu.

Sidhu had come to the hospital to meet the injured victims of the train accident at Jora Phatak in Dhobi Ghat area which took the life of 59 people. The minister is facing flak as his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu was the chief guest at the event and allegedly absconded from the site when the mishap took place. The couple is also being blamed for shielding Saurabh Madaan Mitthu, who was the main organiser of the mela and is the son of local Congress Councillor Vijay Madaan. Mitthu is absconding.

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When Sidhu came out, Sanotra asked him that if Mitthu is not guilty then why is he absconding and not showing up at hospitals to meet families.

Navjot Sidhu meets the injured at Civil Hospital in Amritsar on Sunday. (Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh) Navjot Sidhu is facing flak as his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu was the chief guest at the event and allegedly absconded from the site when the mishap took place. (Express Photo by Gurmeet Singh)

Speaking to The Indian Express, Sanotra said, “My son is never coming back. But I wanted to ask Sidhu that if he is feeling so much pain for us, will he accompany me to the police station and get an FIR registered against their party leader? If Madaan is not guilty then why is he hiding from people and not showing up in hospital in this time of grief? I did not throw any stones or blocked roads to show my anger or protest but only questioned him which is my democratic right.”

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On being asked about Sidhu’s reply to his questions, Sanotra said, “He did not give any satisfactory reply and said ‘iss baare mein hum baith kar baat karenge’ (we will talk about it later). This is no reply being an elected representative of people. I was expecting something better from him.”

Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on “Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers” had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab.       ... Read More

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