Two municipal councillors from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) were on Thursday charged with roughing up a local journalist in Nabha.
Nabha civic body president Gurbakshish Singh Bhatti and his press secretary, Kulwant Singh, who is also a councillor, are the accused. Investigation officer Bhupinder Singh has confirmed that the police have registered a case against them under Sections 323 (punishment for causing injuries voluntarily), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the complaint of Amarinder Puri, journalist on a local vernacular daily.
The police said the incident had happened on Wednesday night when Bhatti and Kulwant had entered a brawl with Puri outside a hotel here over his publishing stories against them. "The councillors slapped him many times before bystanders intervened," said the investigating officer.
Later, a group of journalists along with the Congress and Akali councillors staged a protest in the town, demanding criminal case against the accused. The police registered a case on the intervention of senior superintendent of police Gurpreet Singh Gill and deputy commissioner GK Singh.