#MainBhiHarjeetSingh is Punjab Police’s salute to frontline corona warriors

Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta launches campaign, writes to police chiefs of all states and UTs to show solidarity with frontline warriors such as policemen and healthcare professionals who have been attacked by people in different parts of the country

CHANDIGARH: A fortnight after sub inspector Harjeet Singh’s hand was chopped off when he stopped a group of nihangs from violating the Covid-19 curfew in Sanour town of Patiala district, Punjab Police on Monday launched a nationwide tribute to all policemen, doctors and healthcare professionals by saluting its corona warrior.

Punjab Police chief Dinkar Gupta wearing the nameplate of Harjeet Singh after launching the #MainBhiHarjeetSingh campaign to express solidarity with frontline Covid-19 warriors, including police personnel and health workers, in Chandigarh on Monday. Sub inspector Harjeet Singh of Punjab Police is recuperating at Chandigarh’s Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, where he underwent an over seven-hour surgery to reattach his left hand that was cut off by curfew violators in Patiala on April 12. (HT Photo)

Punjab director general of police Dinkar Gupta has written to police chiefs of all states and Union territories to show solidarity with frontline warriors such as policemen and healthcare professionals who have been attacked by people in different parts of the country.

BADGE OF SOLIDARITY

The Punjab Police campaign is called #MainBhiHarjeetSingh where the police personnel are being asked to replace their own name with Harjeet on their badges.

A social media campaign has also been launched for people to show solidarity with him and other police personnel and healthcare experts in the country who are risking their lives during the epidemic.

“We all will be Harjeet Singh, because for society, Harjeet Singh symbolises the two top attributes of a good cop which is not meeting violence with violence or resorting to tit for tat and showing courage in the face of fire,” Gupta said.

In his letter to the police chiefs, Gupta said Harjeet Singh has emerged as the symbol of the nation’s fight against Covid-19 and its spread.

Punjab Police personnel in Mohali showing solidarity with their colleague after the #MainBhiHarjeetSingh campaign was launched on Monday. (HT Photo)

‘PROTECTORS AND SAVIOURS’

“Harjeet’s episode signals to us all that the frontline warriors need to unite and stand together for each other in a demonstration of solidarity and support to each other. We must also convey a clear message—don’t attack policemen, the ‘protectors’, and don’t harass doctors and heathcare workers, the ‘saviours’,” said Gupta in his letter.

A group of seven nihangs had chopped off the left hand of Harjeet Singh, who has since been promoted as sub-inspector, and left two other police personnel injured with swords when they were not allowed to enter the vegetable market in Patiala district on April 12.

Harjeet Singh underwent a seven-and-a-half-hour operation at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, where he is recuperating at present.