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SAD MP Harsimrat Badal submits privilege notice against senior Punjab cop to LS Speaker
SAD MP Harsimrat Badal submits privilege notice against senior Punjab cop to LS Speaker
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New Delhi, SAD MP Harsimrat Badal has submitted a breach of privilege complaint to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against a senior Punjab Police official for "dismissing" her concerns over the death of a youth in Mansa due to alleged drug overdose, and sought his intervention "to protect the effective discharge of Members' functions".
Sources said that Badal, in her complaint, had given the notice against Mansa Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Chaudhary under Rule 222/223 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, and the same is learnt to have been forwarded to the Committee of Privileges for further action.
The Privileges Committee will look into the matter, sources said.
In her complaint, the Bathinda MP had alleged partisan functioning on the part of the SSP when the matter pertaining to the death of the youth was reported to him, along with the police forcibly taking away the body from the family of the deceased.
The police also did not know the whereabouts of the father of the deceased, even though the family claimed that there were pictures of him with the police, she claimed.
"I hereby give notice under Rule 223 and seek your consent under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha to raise a question of breach of privilege and contempt of the House concerning the conduct of Shri Vaibhav Chaudhary, Senior Superintendent of Police, Mansa, during my interaction with him on 29 October 2026," Badal said in her complaint.
She said Daljit Singh, a marginal farmer of Bhamme Kalan village, Mansa district, died in suspicious circumstances and his family attributed his death to drug consumption and demanded action against those supplying drugs.
"The police, however, registered a case of murder. His death occurred against the backdrop of the continuing agitation over the killing of anti-drug activist Shri Parvinder Singh, popularly known as 'Jhota' who was shot dead on 13 October 2026 by a medical-store owner over illegal drug sales. His family and supporters had since maintained a protest demanding justice and action against the drug trade.
"To associate their grievance with that agitation and highlight what they believed to be another drug-related death, Shri Daljit Singh's family and villagers sought to take his body to the existing protest site. Police intervened and took forcible possession of the body," she said.
They further said that the deceased's father Jarnail Singh, who is diabetic, had been taken away by uniformed police personnel and that his whereabouts were unknown to them, she said.
Badal said on October 29, while visiting the bereaved family at their village, she telephoned the SSP on speakerphone in the presence of family members and villagers.
She said she sought an explanation of the police intervention, the arrangements for release of the body, and the whereabouts and welfare of the deceased's father, and her conversation was recorded.
"During the exchange, the SSP repeatedly interrupted me, characterised the account I conveyed as a 'wrong narrative', twice described me as 'misguided, and called my concerns undue'. He acknowledged that the police had taken the body 'to maintain law and order, but stated that the family should collect it themselves and that the police had no role' in that process and said that the body was lying at AIIMS Bathinda.
"Regarding Shri Jarnail Singh, the SSP stated, 'we are not aware', and advised filing a missing-person report. When I referred to photographs showing him with uniformed police personnel, the officer asked me to share them for verification, but provided no substantive account of the alleged police involvement or the steps being taken to ascertain his whereabouts," the SAD leader said.
"My objection is to the officer's dismissive response and failure to explain the authority and grounds for removing the body forcibly from the family without their permission without following any laid down procedures and whether any restriction remained on its release, and what action was being taken concerning the father's reported removal. This notice concerns the uncertainty prevailing during our interaction on 29 October and the officer's response at that time," she noted.
Badal urged the Committee to seek a factual report from the Punjab government, together with the relevant FIR, inquest and post-mortem records, directions concerning removal of the body from bereaved family by force and release of the body, and records bearing on the whereabouts or custody of Jarnail Singh.
"I seek your intervention to protect the effective discharge of Members' functions while fully respecting the lawful independence of the police investigation," Badal said in her complaint to the speaker.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
