Kotkapura firing: Women recall tales of horror before SIT

KOTKAPURA: The Punjab Police Special Investigation Team (SIT), investigating the threeyear-old police firing and sacrilege cases visited Kotkapura on Thursday and recorded the statements of victims, those injured and eyewitness to the incident. Inspector general Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh led the team.

Sikh women protesters shared harrowing experiences. Paramjit Kaur, of Kothe Warring village, around 6km from Kotkapura, told the SIT, “I, along with 40 other women, were sitting on a protest against the government over the Bargari sacrilege at Kotkapura since October 13, 2015. In the wee hours of October 14, we were taken to the Police Lines, Faridkot, and later shifted to the Kotkapura police station.”

She added, “All 40 of us were cramped in a small room of the police station for over 24 hours. Finally, on intervention of Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, we were freed on October 16.” Another woman Harbans Kaur claimed that she was injured in police ‘lathicharge’ at the Kotkapura Chowk, when she went to look for her son, Gaganpreet Singh, who was serving food to the protesters.

The IG said, “The SIT is conducting an investigation and not an inquiry. The report will go directly to the trial court in Faridkot. It is not a fact-finding inquiry. We have interacted with the complainants, recorded their statements and visited the spot.”

26 COPS RECORD STATEMENTS IN PHAGWARA

In Phagwara, other members of the SIT recorded the statements of SP Paramjit Singh Pannu and five DSPs in the Behbal Kalan firing case in Phagwara on Thursday. Twenty six cops, including the SP and the DSP, had been called to record their statement.