Mansa: Paramjit Kaur, the wife of Mansa farmer Daljit Singh — who died on Tuesday under mysterious circumstances — joined protesters on Wednesday and demanded answers from police.Reiterating that Daljit “died due to ‘chitta’ (synthetic drugs)”, she said, “If police are claiming it was murder, what was the motive? What proof do they have?” Daljit’s family and villagers say it was a drug-overdose death, but police insist it was murder and that three suspects are in custody.TOI repeatedly asked senior police officers on Tuesday and Wednesday for details of the arrested suspects and the possible motive, but there was no answer.Protests over Daljit’s death and the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota intensified on Wednesday. Paramjit Kaur, Daljit’s sister Amarjeet Kaur and his mother marched to the Jhota protest site.The bereaved family said Daljit used to take drugs but had stayed clean for the last 20 days. They are ready to accept that someone killed him if police can provide proof. “He had no enemies that we know of,” said Paramjit Kaur.Hundreds of members of farmer organisation BKU Ekta Ugrahan held dharnas in Mansa and at 40 police stations across the state to demand that Daljit’s body be handed back to his family. Police had taken custody of the body on Tuesday after a tense faceoff when the family and protesters were heading for Mansa to join the group that has been protesting Jhota’s murder for over a fortnight.Both bodies are lying in mortuaries 60km apart, with both families saying they will not go ahead with the cremation until they get justice.BKU farmers said they were stopped at various places on the way to Mansa, but broke through barricades and reached the protest site.Punjab Congress president Pargat Singh, former CM Charanjit Singh Channi, and jailed MP Amritpal Singh’s father Tarsem Singh also participated in the protest. Pargat Singh questioned the basis for declaring the death a murder without an impartial investigation if there was a suspicion of death due to a drug overdose. He also questioned police’s failure to disclose the whereabouts of Parwinder Singh Insaf Committee member Arwinder Kaur. He asked why police were not clarifying where the student leader was being held and what her legal status was if she had indeed been arrested.The Insaf Committee has announced that it will lay siege to MLAs of Aam Aadmi Party for 24 hours on Oct 31.Pargat Singh demanded the dismissal of Mansa SSP for “negligence” and said chief minister Bhagwant Mann and DGP Gaurav Yadav should take moral responsibility and resign.Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that the administrative system had collapsed. “Never has Punjab witnessed such a situation… As there is no commander in Punjab, police are acting on their own which is unprecedented,” he alleged.Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon said, “What happened yesterday in Mansa has brought shame upon Punjabis across India and around the world. First, govt failed to curb drug abuse. Now, when grieving people have taken to the streets, they are being denied even their right to demand justice.”Dhillon alleged, “The young man’s body was dragged around on the streets and treated disrespectfully. The turbans of Sikhs and their Kakars (the five articles of Sikh faith) were desecrated. Journalists were mistreated. People who were peacefully protesting were dragged away and taken into custody.”NHRC Orders InquiryNHRC has sought an action-taken report within two weeks from Punjab chief secretary and DGP over the Daljit Singh death controversy, and sent a notice to the ministry of home affairs for information.NHRC took cognisance of Daljit’s death and the subsequent confrontation near Ramditte Wala chowk in which police took custody of his body when it was being taken to a protest site. NHRC took note of a complaint that alleged use of force and detention of protesters. Police have justified the action on grounds of maintaining law and order and say cops were assaulted. The commission said the allegations prima facie indicated human rights violations and ordered an inquiry.
