Former Punjab BJP president Vijay Sampla on Sunday demanded the inclusion of provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the FIR registered in the murder of 28-year-old Dalit youth Ajay Atwal and sought the inclusion of Shiv Lal Doda’s name in the case. The liquor baron-turned-politician’s daughter-in-law Suhani Doda has been recently appointed as halka in-charge of the Abohar assembly constituency by Aam Aadmi Party.
Sampla visited the government hospital in Abohar, where Ajay’s family has been staging a protest for the past week and refusing to allow a post-mortem examination or cremation of the body. The family is demanding the immediate arrest of all those allegedly involved, a fair and impartial investigation, and a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The former Union minister was accompanied by Punjab BJP scheduled caste morcha president and former Jalandhar West MP Sheetal Angural, Abohar MLA Sandeep Jakhar and others. Addressing the protesters, Sampla appealed to chief minister Bhagwant Mann to ensure that all those responsible were brought to justice. “The government must stop shielding the actual culprits in the Ajay Atwal case and take appropriate action against Shiv Lal Doda as well.
Warning the Punjab government against allegedly shielding the culprits, Sampla said the agitation could spread across the state if the family was denied justice Former Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar on October 22 accompanied Atwal’s mother and other family members, who staged a protest outside the Vidhan Sabha seeking justice, but were later detained by the police. Angural said he would oppose the chief minister’s proposed visit to Abohar on November 1 if the family’s demands remained unaddressed.
He said the police must examine all available evidence, review the sections invoked in the FIR and add appropriate provisions wherever justified by the evidence. Just as people are mobilising for justice for Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa and Ajay Atwal in Abohar, the movement will spread across Punjab if the government fails to deliver justice,” Sampla said.
He urged the government to act before the visit.
