‘Release duo held for smudging Hindi, English on boards’

ACCUSED, ALONG WITH 50 UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE, HAD BEEN BOOKED IN TWO CASES UNDER PREVENTION OF DAMAGE TO PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PROPERTY ACT

BATHINDA: Activists of Malwa Youth Federation and Dal Khalsa on Monday staged a protest march near the district administrative complex, demanding the release of their leaders, arrested, last month, for smudging signboards in Hindi and English.

Raising slogans against the administration, the protesters demanded the release of senior vice-president of Dal Khalsa, Hardeep Singh, and president of Malwa Youth Federation and gangster-turned-activist, Lakhbir Singh Lakha Sidhana.

They also submitted a memorandum to Bathinda deputy commissioner Diprava Lakra.

The duo, along with 50 unidentified people, have been booked in two different cases under the Prevention of Damage to Public and Private Property Act. They had smudged signboards with names of places written in Hindi and English on about 20-km stretch on the Bathinda–faridkot road on the national highway-15 on October 21. They were demanding that the signboards be written with Punjabi, being the top language.

Following this protest, the Public Works Department (buildings and roads) decided to put Punjabi on top.

“The protesters, Hardeep and Sidhana, had raised a fair demand. The police registered a case and arrested them wrongly. They should be released unconditionally.”