Desecration of ‘birs’: Cong protests against beating up of youths by cops - Hindustan Times
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Desecration of ‘birs’: Cong protests against beating up of youths by cops

Hindustan Times | By, Amritsar
Apr 07, 2016 01:22 PM IST

The rural unit of the Amritsar District Congress Committee (DCC) on Wednesday protest against the beating up of three youths of at Bhittewad village by the police in connection with the desecration of ‘birs’ last Sunday. Partially burnt pages of a ‘gutka’ were found scattered in a lane in the village and a case was registered against unidentified persons at the Lopoke police station.

The rural unit of the Amritsar District Congress Committee (DCC) on Wednesday protest against the beating up of three youths of at Bhittewad village by the police in connection with the desecration of ‘birs’ last Sunday. Partially burnt pages of a ‘gutka’ were found scattered in a lane in the village and a case was registered against unidentified persons at the Lopoke police station.

The three youths (extreme left) who were allegedly beaten up by the police with Congress leader Gurjit Aujla (centre) at Bhittewad village in Amritsar on Wednesday.(HT Photo)
The three youths (extreme left) who were allegedly beaten up by the police with Congress leader Gurjit Aujla (centre) at Bhittewad village in Amritsar on Wednesday.(HT Photo)

A police party visited the village on Tuesday and took three youths—Surinder Singh, Nishan Singh and Padarnath Singh— into custody. They were let off by the cops the same day.

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Briefing the media, DCC president Gurjit Singh Aujla alleged that the only fault the youths was to post photographs of the half-burnt pages of the ‘gutka’ on the social media sites. “Our protest was against the thrashing of youths who were not behind the desecration. We demand action against the cops responsible for beating up the youths,” Aujla said.

Only questioned, not thrashed: SSP

Amritsar Rural SSP Jasdeep Singh admitted that three youths had been taken to the police station for questioning. He, however, refuted the allegations that they were beaten up.

“We questioned them as they were the ones who saw the partially-burnt ‘gutka’ pages in the village. Obviously, there were grounds for questioning them. Moreover instead of informing their sarpanch or the ‘granthi’ at the gurdwara, they chose to put the photographs of the pages on the social media,” the SSP said.

The youths claimed that they had informed the sarpanch and the granthi before putting the photographs on the social media.

Jathedar wants early arrests

Akal Takht jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh has expressed ‘shock’ over the incident at Bhittewad and asked the police to probe the case and arrest the culprits. “I fail to understand why such incidents occur only in our gurdwaras? This aspect needs to be thoroughly investigated by,” the Jathedar said.

He appealed to all gurdwara management committees, particularly those in charge of shrines in rural areas, to ensure the presence of at least one ‘granthi’ or ‘sewadar’ in the gurdwara round the clock.

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