First Sikh police officer in Texas shot dead
NEW YORK: A US-Sikh police officer, who made national headlines when he was allowed to grow a beard and wear a turban on the job, was shot dead in an “ambushstyle” attack in a “ruthless, coldblooded way” in the US State of Texas, a senior official said on Saturday.
Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal, a 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s office and its first Sikh deputy, was gunned down while conducting a mid-day traffic stop in northwest of Houston on Friday, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
The officer said Dhaliwal, 42, was taken by helicopter to a hospital where he died.
“I’m sad to share with you that we’ve lost one of our own. Our HCSO Texas was unable to recover from his injuries,” Gonzalez said in a tweet. Gonzalez said Robert Soli, driver of the car 42-year-old Dhaliwal had pulled over for checking, was charged with murder and faces the death penalty if found guilty.
Dhaliwal was married and was a father of three children.
A pall of gloom descended on Dhaliwal’s ancestral village in Punjab’s Kapurthala district after news of his death reached there. Dhaliwal had migrated to the US in 1995 from Dhaliwal Bet village.
CHANDIGARH:The Punjab and Haryana high court has dismissed bail pleas of two Moga policemen, facing arrest for non-appearance as prosecution witnesses, in a 2016 drugs seizure case. The HC bench of justice Rajbir Sehrawat said in the case in hand it is the prosecution and its witnesses, who had virtually blocked proceedings of the trial.
The bench added, “.. caring in the least, for the liberty of the accused in the trial. It is only the nonproduction and non-appearance of the witness of the prosecution, which had unduly prolonged the eclipse upon the liberty of the accused; in a totally unjustified manner.”
Two of three cops — Kuldeep Singh and Sarwan Singh — had approached the HC after a Moga trial court issued arrest warrants against three cops including these two on the plea of drugs case accused Kakka Ram, who couldn’t appear in just one hearing and was issued bailable warrants. When the court was told that of 18 hearings, 16 had to be adjourned due to the non-appearance of cops and they did not appear even as bailable warrants were issued, the court ordered their arrest stating that they be kept in custody till the time the witness examination process was not complete.
On the pleas of cops, the HC said it is evident in the case that the right to life and liberty of accused had been curtailed. “It is a duty cast upon the court to ...minimise damage to such right,” it said, adding that the order on arrest was passed, so that all witnesses were available for examination.
The court observed that under the provisions that bail had been sought are availed by the accused, and not the witnesses. The petitioners had argued that one of them was never summoned and the second one was not served the notice.
Court found that not on 16 dates (cited by accused), that the policemen did not appear in court for witness examination, rather it were 20 dates when cops did not appear, the court said adding that the delay in the trial was not on the part of accused.
COURT SAID 20 HEARINGS HAD TO BE ADJOURNED, NOT 16, DUE TO NON-APPEARANCE OF COPS; THEY DID NOT APPEAR EVEN AFTER BAILABLE WARRANTS