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Ludhiana | DC, police commissioner visit DEO office to express solidarity after slipper garlanding incident
Two days after Rajinder Kumar Ghai, a member of the Ludhiana Parents Association was booked for garlanding DEO, secondary, Lakhvir Singh Samra; DC Varinder Kumar Sharma, and CP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar visited DEO’s office; farmers too joined the ongoing protest by the local government teachers and principals outside the DC office seeking immediate arrest of Ghai
Two days after a member of the Ludhiana Parents Association was booked for garlanding district education officer (DEO), secondary, Lakhvir Singh Samra with slippers at his office; district commissioner (DC) Varinder Kumar Sharma along with his father, a retired government teacher, and commissioner of police (CP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar visited DEO’s office on Monday and assured him of all the possible support.
“If someone has any issue relating to the functioning of an officer, they should not resort to such shameful methods but contact the higher authorities. The whole administration is with the DEO and thus he should not be afraid of any such bad elements,” said DC.
Bhullar said, “The accused has gone in disguise with his family. Special teams have been deputed to arrest the accused. I appeal to people to not take law in their hands or else they will be in trouble.”
Farmers join protest
Meanwhile, the farmers extended full support to the DEO and joined the ongoing protest by the local government teachers and principals outside the DC office seeking immediate arrest of Rajinder Kumar Ghai, who was booked on January 1 after garlanding the DEO with slippers.
Teacher unions declared to observe protests for two hours in schools on January 5 to press for the arrest of the culprits.
Principal Davinder Singh Chhina appreciated the goodwill gesture by district authorities for their visit to DEO Samra. Chhina said, “All the teachers and school heads need to be united in future to isolate unscrupulous elements who are bent upon tarnishing the image of the government school system that had shown resurgence in recent years. Police should immediately arrest the accused and set an example for bad elements.”
Security lapse
However, farmers also raised questions on the security deputed at the entry of the Mini Secretariat. “Ludhiana police learnt nothing from the court complex blast. Despite security being deputed at the entry points, how did Ghai carry the slipper garland inside the building? Action should be taken against the policemen there,” said Malkit Singh, a farmer leader.
The entry points leading to the DC office were barricaded and blocked for public visit by the police in wake of the ongoing protest of farmers.
The case
A probe was launched against the PT teacher by deputy DEO, secondary, Charanjit Singh, on December 22, after Rajinder Ghai filed a complaint with the chief minister’s office.
Ghai had claimed that since DEO did not take any action though 10 days had elapsed, and was trying to save the teacher.
