Chandigarh, Sep 5: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday spoke to a Sikh youth who was allegedly tortured by police after being detained for waving a black flag near the venue of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s programme in Sangrur, and assured him of all support.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, who met the youth, Mohanjit Singh, at a hospital in Sangrur, arranged the phone call with Gandhi.
Gandhi hailed Singh’s courage in standing up for the truth and conveying his message. He asked the Punjab Congress to ensure that Singh gets justice, Warring told reporters.
Singh, from Sheron village in Sangrur, alleged that police in the Sunam division tortured him after detaining him for waving a black flag from the rooftop of a house near the venue of Mann’s ‘Lok Milni’ programme on September 2.
He claimed that he was raising slogans against the AAP government’s alleged failure to curb the drug menace.
To express solidarity with Singh, Warring said, Congress workers, including those from the Youth Congress and the Mahila Congress, across the state will show black flags to CM Mann wherever he goes.
Warring likened Mann to Afghan emperor and invader Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Mann was not the first chief minister to be shown a black flag. Several chief ministers and even prime ministers have been shown black flags in the past, but nobody reacted the way Mann did, the Congress leader said.
He said the CM should have shown grace and dignity and called Singh and asked him why he was protesting.
But instead Mann “unleashed the brute police force on the youth who was subjected to brutal third-degree torture in police custody and even given electric shocks”, Warring alleged.
He demanded the immediate dismissal of the concerned station house officer (SHO) and the deputy superintendent of police (DSP). Such people do not deserve to be in the police force, he said.
Warring said the Congress, after discussions with the Congress Legislative Party leader, may meet the governor to ensure that action is taken against the two officials and Singh gets justice.
Amid mounting criticism from the opposition, Punjab Police transferred a DSP and attached three other officers, including an inspector, to police lines.
