punjab

Updated: Sep 23, 2016 22:58 IST

Annoyed at being asked to wait, the husband of a sarpanch (village head) belonging to Punjab’s ruling party, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), and his son thrashed a five-month pregnant nurse at Gupta Hospital in Baghapurana on Thursday afternoon.

Paramjeet Singh of Alamwala village was at the hospital with his son, Gurjeet Singh, to get villager Gelo discharged. They had asked Dr Rohit Ravi for a bill and nurse Ramandeep Kaur claims she asked them politely to wait at the reception. “He started abusing me, saying ‘tu mainu jandi nahin, main Akali sarpanch aa’ (You don’t know me. I am an Akali sarpanch),” she stated in her first-information report (FIR).

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“After that, Gurjeet pushed me and when I tried to resist, both he and his son thrashed me. I received internal injuries,” she stated. A security-camera video of the assault made it to the social media with the tag ‘Akali Sarpanch di Goondagardi’.

Police booked both accused under sections 451 (house trespass to commit an offence), 323 (punishment for causing hurt voluntarily), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), and 34 (common intent in crime) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Baghapurana in Moga district.

Baghapurana station house officer (SHO) Gurmail Singh said the accused were on the run. Town’s former Congress legislator Darshan Singh Brar visited the hospital and condemned the incident. “The vandalism and arrogance of the Akalis is on display,” he said. “After coming to power in Punjab (elections are due next year), the Congress won’t spare them. If police fail to take action against the accused, we will start protests.”

Note: Earlier reports identified accused Paramjeet Singh as sarpanch, whereas it is his wife who is the sarpanch. The error is regretted.