E-Paper
Suspended DSP booked for comparing Cong’s Patti MLA with Mughal governor
Non-bailable charges pressed against the cop, who earlier was at loggerheads with minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, for allegedly uploading a derogatory post on social media site Facebook
A suspended deputy superintendent of police (DSP) was booked in Tarn Taran for comparing Congress’ Patti MLA Harminder Singh Gill with Mughal governor of Lahore Zakariya Khan Bahadur, known for the persecution of Sikhs, in a post on social media site Facebook.
Non-bailable charges were pressed against DSP Balwinder Singh Sekhon, who was suspended in December last year by the Punjab government for allegedly sending abusive and derogatory messages to state food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu when he was posted in Ludhiana. An inquiry was marked against him.
The case was registered against him on Sunday under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295-A (deliberate acts to outrage religious feelings), 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66 of the Information Technology (IT) Act at the Patti city police station on the complaint of the MLA’s close aide Raj Karan Singh.
In the first week of May, the Congress MLA had sparked a row as an audio of him demanding ‘courtesy call’ from Harike SHO Navdeep Singh had surfaced.
The FB post, which was uploaded on Wednesday, reads, “…the station house officer (SHO) who made MLA Harminder Singh Gill’s threatening audio clip viral has been transferred..It is shameful for the police department. Such officers are obeying the dogs for saving their position”. The post also carries abusive and derogatory remarks and had pictures of Gill and the SHO.
“By uploading derogatory remarks on Facebook, Sekhon is instigating hate between the police department and the government. He has also used derogatory comments against a DGP besides spreading hate on the basis of caste,” the MLA aide’s statement to the police read.
Superintendent of police (SP-investigation) Jagjit Singh Walia said probe into the case was going on.
Sekhon could not be contacted for comments.
He had claimed that he was being targeted by the government at the behest of Ashu, who had a grudge against him since he conducted an inquiry into the illegal change of land use (CLU) case in a residential project in Ludhiana in which the minister’s role had also come under scanner.
