The impasse over the death of the Dalit youth on Monday came to a “conditional” end with the Punjab Government assuring the widow of a job and Rs 20 lakhs compensation for the family, among other things.
A 37-year-old Jagmail Singh succumbed to his injuries he suffered after he was brutally beaten up allegedly by upper-caste men, and was also forced to drink urine when he asked for water. Deceased’s family, besides various farmers and dalit organizations, are staging protests demanding stricter punishment for the accused and suitable compensation for the family which has lost its sole breadwinner.
Under attack from various quarters, the State Government swung into action on Sunday evening with its senior Cabinet Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot reaching out to the family, which had refused to accept the body and even not allowing to conduct the autopsy, with “assurances” which were rejected right away.
The government had offered Rs 8.5 lakh compensation, Rs 5,000 monthly pension to the family, a government job among other things.
The Chief Minister, who is currently on 14-day “part official, part private” visit to Europe, had reportedly directed the state Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh and state police chief Dinkar Gupta to punish the culprits within three months.
On Monday, a battery of Cabinet Ministers and senior leaders held a meeting with the family members at the Chief Minister’s office wherein the two sides agreed upon eight conditions, and the family decided to call off the stir, and agreed to cremation.
The protestors also agreed to lift their dharna outside the residence of former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal in her native village Lehra.
Cabinet Ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Charanjit Singh Channi, Vijay Inder Singla, and CM’s political secretary Capt Sandeep Singh Sandhu represented the government at the meeting with the deceased’s widow Manjit Kaur and other family members.
Following the meeting, the spokesperson said that the State Government, acting on the Chief Minister’s directives, announced Rs 20 lakhs in compensation for the family of the Dalit man.
It was decided in the meeting that the deceased’s widow would be provided a group-D job near her residence, thereby giving relaxation in the prescribed educational qualification. It was also decided to provide free ration up to six months to the family. The entire expenditure on the bhog of deceased would be borne by the State Government.
Further, the State Government would provide Rs 1.25 lakh for the repair of the Jagmail Singh’s house. The Government has also decided to provide free education to the deceased’s children studying in Classes IX, VI and I, up to graduation level.
Spokesperson said that the family was informed that the Chief Minister has ordered a comprehensive probe by an Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) rank officer into the murder case.
The Chief Minister has ordered the police to file the challan in the case within a week, said the spokesperson adding that all effort would be made to ensure stringent punishment for the culprits within three months.
The ADGP has also been mandated to probe the lapses by the officers, if any, to fix their accountability.
Spokesperson disclosed that DGP Dinkar Gupta had deputed ADGP Gurpreet Deo to undertake the enquiry and to submit a list of recommendations so as to prevent such unfortunate incidents or delays, if any, in filing the case, in the future.
The enquiry officer‘s responsibility should also be fixed to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the erring officers, said the DGP.
OPPOSITION TAKES ON GOVT
Opposition parties in Punjab on Monday lashed out at the ruling Congress party over the horrific incident of dalit youth’s murder.
While the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) questioned the Congress national president why the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh was not asked to cut short his “European holiday” to address grievances of the Dalit family, its ally the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has demanded Rs 50 lakh compensation for Jagmail’s family.
The issue was also reverberated in the national capital when the Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab unit president and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann raised the issue on the first day of the Parliament session while demanding Rs 50 lakh compensation for the family.
Taking on the Gandhi family for its double standards, SAD legislator and the former minister Bikram Singh Majithia asked the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her predecessor Rahul Gandhi why they had neither visited Punjab nor directed the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder to cut short his European holiday and address the grievances of the Dalit family whose sole earning member died a gory death after being tortured in Lehragaga in Sangrur district.
“Rahul Gandhi is fond of visiting Dalit families during elections to secure their votes, but when a gross atrocity is committed against a Dalit family in Punjab neither he nor his mother have deigned it fit to visit the State. The Gandhi family seems to have conveniently forgotten that it is their government in Punjab which is being accused of failing to take timely action against the culprits of this ghastly crime. Despite this, they have failed to visit the State and commiserate with the victim family,” he said.
Majithia said that the State Government had already been caught sleeping with the FIR in the case being registered five days after the incident on November 7.
“The financial aid and other benefits offered by the Congress government to the family of Jagmail also happened only after farmer unions and Dalit outfits started an indefinite blockade of the Lehragaga–Sunam highway. This is reflective of the callous attitude of the government towards the Dalit community”, he said adding that seven Dalits had been murdered during Congress rule.
Asking the Chief Minister to return to Punjab and address the grievances of the victim family, Majithia said that the family did not believe any of the promises made by Congress leaders as the Government had a history of going back on its promises, and thus a written undertaking about enhanced compensation as well as other benefits including job for a family member, should be given to the family immediately.
Amidst reports that the Congress activists were trying to shield the accused, Majithia declared that the Akali Dal would not allow this to happen at any cost. “A four-member committee of SAD led by Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra would visit Changaliwala village to ascertain all the facts of the case and ensure justice is done in the case. Adequate security should also be provided to the victim family to ensure that they are not pressurized in any manner,” he said.
AMARINDER GOVT INDIFFERENT, INSENSITIVE: BJP
Terming Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress Government as insensitive to the plight of dalits in the state, the BJP on Monday said that it was highly unfortunate that the Chief Minister was away enjoying his vacations and the administration has taken the issue lightly showing as if nothing has happened.
BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh demanded Rs 50 lakh compensation for dalit youth Jagmail Singh’s family, adding that no amount of compensation would be enough for a family who has lost its breadwinner in most unfortunate and shameful circumstances.
Chugh has also shot off a letter to the National Commissioner for Scheduled Castes on Monday requesting the central panel to direct the State Government to act as per the provisions of SC, ST Act.
“The Government’s indifferent attitude is evident from the fact that the Chief Minister is away to Europe on a vacation and the administration has turned a blind eye to one of the most horrific murders of a dalit in the state,” he said.
“Even after such an open and shut case, the pace with which the Police seems to be moving, shows the approach of Congress government towards the hapless family,” he said while asking the state Chief Secretary and the DGP to ensure that the trial is handed over to a fast track court so that the murderers get punished at the earliest and the family gets justice.
MANN DEMANDS SHAH’S INTERVENTION
AAP’s Punjab unit president and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, raising the dalit’s death issue in the Parliament, slammed the Capt Amarinder Singh government in the State for the spurt in the crime due to the collapse of the law and order machinery in the state.
Mann, referring to the death of a Dalit labourer Jagmail Singh of Changaliwala village under Sangrur parliamentary constituency, said that several Dalit and other organizations were holding protests in Sangrur while the aggrieved family was staging a sit-in protest in Chandigarh to bring those behind the nerve-chilling incident while Captain and his kitchen cabinet were on a ‘hunting expedition’ to certain European countries.
Demanding Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s intervention in the matter, Mann said that he should direct the State Department for Home Affairs to expedite the investigations to bring those behind this horrific crime to justice, besides immediately sanctioning a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the aggrieved family and giving a government job to the next of kin of the deceased.
He also demanded exemplary punishment for those behind the savage act to the recurrence of such macabre incidents in the state.