E-Paper
Dera Bassi MC president arrested for casteist slurs against sanitation worker
Congress councillor’s husband also arrested; their son, his four aides named in FIR for beating up the sanitation worker at the Dera Bassi MC office; Congress stages protest, alleging false case against party members
Police on Saturday arrested Dera Bassi municipal council president Ranjit Singh Reddy and Congress councillor Asha Sharma’s husband Bhupinder Sharma for allegedly assaulting a Dalit sanitation worker and hurling casteist remarks at him.
Police also booked the councillor’s son Varun Sharma and his four unidentified accomplices who are all absconding.
Alleging false implication without any substantial proof, Congress leaders, led by party’s Punjab president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, reached the Dera Bassi police station on Saturday night and staged a protest.
The arrests came on the complaint of sanitation worker Sohan Lal. He said on August 1, he was cleaning the roads in Dera Bassi’s Shakti Nagar area, when he noticed a septic tank’s damaged lid.
Lal said as he picked up the iron lid to take it for repair, councillor Asha Sharma’s husband Bhupinder Sharma spotted him. He alleged that without hearing his side, Bhupinder accused him of theft and misbehaved with him.
Lal further alleged that after a couple of days, MC president Ranjit Singh Reddy called him and Bhupinder to the Dera Bassi MC office on August 4 to reach a compromise.
When he visited the office, the councillor’s son Varun Sharma was also present there and instead of any talks for a compromise, Varun, along with his four accomplices, assaulted him, while Reddy passed objectionable casteist slurs against him, he alleged.
Dera Bassi SHO Jaskanwal Singh said, “After we got the complaint on August 4, we started investigation. We also collected statements from other sanitation workers and after a complete inquiry, lodged the FIR on Saturday. The accused were arrested in the afternoon and will be produced in court on Sunday.”
Reddy, Bhupinder, Varun and his four unidentified accomplices have been booked under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 3 (offences of atrocities) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
