The Punjab director general of police (DGP) has told the high court that the possibility of self-inflicted injuries cannot be ruled out in the case of an alleged assault on a Sikh youth by police personnel and others after he showed a black flag to the cavalcade of chief minister Bhagwant Mann on September 2 in Sangrur.
Sharma was later released. The petition was filed by Gurmail Singh, whose son Mohanjit Singh allegedly showed a black flag to Mann during his visit to Sheron village. The petitioner alleged that a team of police officers and officials went to the rooftop from where his son had shown the flag, caught him by his beard and assaulted him. He sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Photographs submitted with the petition were also examined by the court. Gurmail further alleged that after this incident, his son was illegally detained and was first taken to the police post, zonal police city, Sunam, and then to Cheema police station. Of the seven police personnel whose names appeared in the contemporaneous record as having been present during, or connected with, the rounding-up, questioning, escort, lock-up or subsequent recording of the injured person’s statement, four had been transferred out of the posting on the date of the incident, the affidavit added.
The high court had sought an affidavit on September 10.
The DGP further told the court that the allegations were being examined by a fact-finding committee. Four police officers connected with the incident have been transferred from their posts, according to an affidavit submitted by the DGP in the high court. The DGP has told the court that Mohanjit had allegedly indulged in a scuffle with the locals before the programme began. Mohanjit and Sharma were rounded up and detained at Anaj Mandi police post, Sunam, for questioning and to prevent any “breach of peace or commission of a cognizable offence”. However, Mohanjit Singh was taken to Cheema police station for preventive action, the affidavit said. The court has been further told that an SIT has been constituted comprising IPS officers Dilpreet Singh and Gazalpreet Kaur, along with PPS officer Palwinder Singh Cheema.
