‘While situation worsened,DC remained busy at a function’

“The coordination between the IG/ SSP ( Varinder Pal Singh,PPS) and DC ( M S Kainth) was missing when a sensitive situation was prevailing all over the state,” reads the 228-page report submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday.

Indicting the sub-divisional magistrate,Gurdaspur,for not taking responsibility,Ladhar has held that “when the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) was made overall in-charge,no explanation is forthcoming as to why he did not take command of the situation. The naib tehsildar is too junior an officer to handle the situation on his own without SDM’s supervision.”

The inquiry report was submitted to the high court in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by an NGO,that had demanded an independent probe into the death of Jaspal Singh. The youth was allegedly shot dead by the Punjab Police during a protest in Gurdaspur after a court had ordered the execution of death warrant issued to Balwant Singh Rajoana,the alleged assassin of former Punjab chief minister,Beant Singh.

Who fired the shot?

Ladhar expressed surprise over the inability of Punjab Police to ascertain “from whose weapon the bullet was fired.” The inquiry officer has stated that “regrettably,the police have till date failed to enlighten as to from whose weapon the bullet (recovered from the youth’s body) was fired”.

On the bullet recovered from youth’s body,the inquiry officer has submitted that “the recovery of SLR cartridge will need a complete explanation from police authorities in the face of the fact that none of the persons designated for firing were armed with SLR as per list supplied by SSP himself”.

AK-47 used for crowd control

Shockingly,“deadly weapons” were used by the Punjab Police for “crowd control and dispersal”. The IAS officer has stated that “the use of AK-47 and SLR for the purpose of crowd control and their dispersal are flagrantly violate instructions regarding the use of the least deadly weapons”.

Info of death not from admin source

The report further goes on to state that there was a lack of coordination between the police and the civil administration. “Jaspal’s death from a bullet injury came to light not from any administrative source but as a result of a dead body having been brought to the hospital as well as Ranjit Singh,injured by bullet,also coming to hospital”,it states while adding that the incident could have been prevented if all available police forces had been properly deployed and senior police officers at Dina Nagar reached the spot earlier.

Too many Lapses to be ignored

Asserting that “lapses are too many to be ignored”,Ladhar stated that “the scene of police personnel hitting doors of residential buildings,ostensibly to flush out mischievous elements,chasing the crowd in a congested lane while firing simply defy any logic.” “The force at the disposal of district police was enough but preventive deployment is not seen.. Preventive and alternative steps like tear gas shelling,use of water cannons and firing of rubber bullets were not put to optimum,forceful,focused and efficacious use. The briefing by the authorities to the personnel were not specific covering the various aspects”.