The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday flagged gaps in the Punjab Police probe into the violence at Lovely Professional University (LPU), Phagwara, last month and gave a “last opportunity” to the state police before it considers transferring the case to an independent agency.
He also highlighted that police failed to properly investigate any common link between the LPU violence and a similar incident reported at Chitkara University a few days earlier. During the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking an independent probe into the violence, the court questioned the state government why the person who posted the alleged rape rumour had not been questioned or arrested.
The court also took a serious note of submissions by senior advocate Gaurav Chopra, who pointed out that from the affidavit, the police had virtually given a “clean chit” in the case. The court asserted that before considering the prayer for transferring the investigation to an independent agency, it was giving a last opportunity to the state police to examine the matter in the “correct perspective”. “We expect the police authorities to immediately take cognisance of the larger implications, which arise out of the incident and the threats, which it poses to public safety, security and larger national interest, and take remedial measures forthwith so as to apprehend the culprit,” the court said while giving time till October 27.
Please take up things in the right perspective,” the bench remarked when Chopra read out various details about the case, including that nine cops were injured and arson reported at the university resulted in a ₹ 30-crore loss.
The state’s counsel on the other hand told the court that the ambit of the probe had been widened; counter-intelligence and the state cyber unit were probing the matter now, and sought four weeks to complete the probe.
“The fears which are highlighted before the court, we are taking it very seriously.
