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Tarn Taran church vandalism case: Protest staged over police failure to identify accused even after three weeks
The protesters said that 22 days had lapsed since the Tarn Taran church vandalism but the police were still groping in the dark for leads. In the incident that took place on August 31, a vehicle belonging to a pastor had also been set on fire by miscreants. Punjab Police had announced ₹1 lakh reward for information on the accused.
Peeved over the police’s “failure” to identify the four masked men who had vandalised a church and desecrated statues of Jesus Christ and Mary in Thakarpura village last month, members of the Christian community staged a protest outside the office of Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police (SSP) and also blocked the Amritsar-Bathinda national highway.
The protesters said that 22 days had lapsed since the incident but the police were still groping in the dark for leads. In the incident that took place on August 31, a vehicle belonging to a pastor had also been set on fire by miscreants. Punjab Police had announced ₹1 lakh reward for information on the accused.
On the directions of chief minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann and director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav, the director bureau of investigation (BOI) B Chandra Sekhar had constituted a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the matter. The SIT comprises inspector general (IG-Ferozepur range) Jaskaran Singh and Tarn Taran SSP Ranjit Singh Dhillon.
The protesters handed over a memorandum, addressed to the CM, besides issuing a warning to intensify protest if the accused were not sent behind bars soon.
“A high-level SIT was formed, but it brought no results. Christians living in Punjab and other states of India are feeling dejected. Our sentiments have been hurt,” said the leaders.
