Punjab home guard jawan, Sukhwinder Singh, has been dismissed from his services on Friday for “harassing and making obscene gestures” towards a UK national on a Delhi-bound train from Amritsar.
His dismissal came after a social media uproar was caused by a blog written by a 27-year-old British woman, lucy Hemmings, revealing the instances during her recent visits to India. Sukhwinder was dismissed on the directions of the state Director General of Police-cum-Commandant General Home Guards SK Sharma “on charges of harassing and making obscene gestures towards a UK national on board an Amritsar-Delhi train”, state the official statement.
Guard Sukhwinder has been posted in Company Chehratta in Amritsar district. “The guard was arrested by the Railway Police Punjab, after a British tourist accused him of sexually harassing her on board Shaheed Express while she was travelling from Amritsar to New Delhi…He was booked under Sections 354 (a) and (b) which deal with sexual harassment of women,” said Punjab Home Guards and Civil Defense Department spokesperson.
The case was referred to the Divisional Commandant, Punjab Home Guards Jalandhar, and on the basis of the report submitted by the Investigating Officer, “jawan Sukhwinder Singh was discharged from duties with immediate effect”. The complainant, a theology student who was in Amritsar to learn more about the Sikh faith, sent her online complaint to the UK high commission in New Delhi on May 20 saying, “I was sexually harassed by a man wearing a Punjab police uniform on the train”.
She alleged that the ‘policeman’ started raising his eyebrows and smiling while speaking in Punjabi, made obscene gestures. “I couldn't understand what he was saying, but it seemed he was asking me to touch him," she wrote in the complaint. She said that despite her saying 'no no', the policemen moved closer until his thighs were touching hers.
The complainant said that she shouted “BBC, BBC” and “you are in trouble” while pointing towards her camera. Thereafter, the man got off the train at the next station after Amritsar. She said that she had also noted down his name and clicked his photographs. The high commission forwarded the complaint to the Punjab Police and then to the GRP. A case under section 354, A, C and D of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered.