Zirakpur cops under scanner for illegally detaining man,not maintaining records

The directions were passed in the wake of a petition filed by one Simranjit Kaur who had alleged that her husband Gurjeet Singh was kept in illegal detention at the Zirakpur police station. Demanding her husband’s release,she moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Acting on the petition,the High Court had appointed a warrant officer on May 19 who raided the police station and found Gurjeet in police custody. The detainee was released immediately.

However,the warrant officer observed that the roznamcha (daily register) was not updated and that even old entries were not reported to senior officers for six to seven days,which is a violation of the Punjab Police Rules.

The rules make it compulsory for police officers to maintain the register on a daily basis and inform senior officers of the entries with immediate effect.

Surprisingly,in order to avoid trouble,the police officers allegedly got a complaint “fabricated” from one Raj Singh who alleged that Gurjeet Singh and his accomplices had been harassing local residents. The police took the plea that acting on the complaint,they had arrested Gurjeet Singh.

“Prima facie,it appears that the application said to have been made by Raj Singh and others received in the Zirakpur police station has been fabricated subsequent to the visit of the warrant officer so as to come out with an explanation about the case. If such an application had been submitted by Raj Singh and others on May 19 and Gurjeet Singh was summoned to the police station for questioning,necessary entries ought to have been made in the roznamcha maintained in the police station,” Justice T P S Mann ruled.

Allegations of trespassing wrong : Ex-IAS officer

Retired IAS officer C L Bains said on Thursday that allegations of “trespassing and masterminding the eviction” of a house levelled against him by an old widow Bimla Devi,a resident of Kajheri village,were wrong. The former State Election Commissioner has termed the allegations as “false and fabricated”. Bains said that the plot in dispute is owned by his brother-in-law,who resides in London and his (Bains’) wife holds the general power of attorney of the plot. “I have filed ejectment proceedings against the defaulters which are pending in a lower court of Chandigarh,” Bains said,adding that Bimla Devi was an “encroacher”. When contacted,Bimla Devi denied the claims of Bains. “How can he say that I am an encroacher. My voter ID card and other documents prove that I am the tenant and not an encroacher. It is only after the perusal of these documents that the court has granted the stay in our favour”.

HC issues notice to Punjab for carving out farmhouses on forest land

Concerned over the deterioration of hillocks in the periphery of Chandigarh,the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notices to the state of Punjab and asked it to file a response. The notices have been issued after Justice Mehtab Singh Gill took suo motu notice of a news item which had appeared in an English daily. It was stated in the news report that inroads have been made into Shivalik Hills. Hillocks had been levelled and about 40 illegal farmhouses have been sold to outsiders. About 500 trees have been illegally felled,uprooted and sold by local politicians-turned-realtors to remove all traces of forest land. Thirteen persons who own farm houses here have been identified. In sites in the Majri Block,40 sites measuring upto 3 acre have been sold to non-locals.

Ropar Divisional Forest Officer K Kannan had said that owners of these ‘illegal’ farmhouses are being prosecuted under the Indian Forest Act,1927 and Forest Conservation Act,1980.

The damaged hillocks are spread over 1500 acres of common village land in the Majri block,comprising villages Bhagindi,Gurdha,Kasuali,Jyanti Majri and Karaundewala. The area is reserved under the Indian Forest Act,1927,Forest Conservation Act,1980 and the Punjab Land Preservation Act,1900.

It had been further revealed that during the initial probe by the Administration,the names of a Punjab Vigilance officer,an SDO in the Punjab Public Works Department,Private Secretary to a Cabinet Minister and a Mohali-based BJP leader had figured.

“The hillocks in the periphery of Chandigarh (northern region) are being levelled with impunity though it is an area where sanction has to be got from the Union Forest Ministry under the Forest Conservation Act,1980,” reads the order. The notices were issued by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh.

Babla to be released on bail today

After spending over four months behind bars,Congress councillor Devinder Singh Babla will finally be released on bail on Friday. The Punjab and Haryana High Court today granted him bail in a case wherein he allegedly helped an unqualified person secure a job in the Sector-26 grain market committee,of which he was chairman,allegedly by tampering documents. Following this revelation,Rajesh Chauhan,who had got the job on the basis of fake documents,was also booked in a case of forgery. The investigating agency got Chauhan’s Class X certificate verified from the Himachal Pradesh School Education Board,Dharamshala. It was found that his year of birth,which was 1973,had been changed to 1978. Also,he had secured 33 per cent marks,while the eligibility criterion for the job was higher. Chauhan is the brother of one Anju,who is a family friend of Babla. Anju had been questioned during the period Babla was absconding. The police had claimed that she admitted that Babla helped her brother get the job of an auction reader in the market committee. Arguing on behalf of Babla,senior advocate R S Rai,assited by Advocate Gautam Dutt,today contended that the Congress councillor was only one of the members of the committee. Whatever document was brought to him was scrtuinised by officials of the Municipal Corporation. Rai also took a dig at the investigating agency for not waiting for the Vigilance inquiry report which was probing similar allegations. Babla’s counsel contended that the special investigating team arrested him in haste.