Chandigarh : On March 3, 2013, at a wedding reception in Tarn Taran, Harbrinder Kaur was mercilessly beaten up by Punjab Police cops just because she tried to save her ex-serviceman father, Kashmir Singh from being physically assaulted by cops. Kashmir Singh in turn was just trying to prevent police from beating a few people at the groom’s party. Videographer Jagjit Singh showed courage to record the incident, a clip of which went viral on social media so much so that Supreme Court of India took notice of the whole incident. When he asked the cops to call for the lady police and to not to manhandle a lady, even he got severely beaten and taken to the police station tied inhumanly with his own turban. The matter was also raised in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha spurring the government into action. An enquiry was conducted which indicted the erring cops but unfortunately the two cops who were suspended from active duty have since been reinstated. What a shame! Since then, the courageous videographer has been tormented, mentally tortured, harassed and has lost his shop, has had to sell off his equipment to fend for his family. He has no video-graphy tools to be able to work to make ends meet.
He has knocked all doors that he thought were available to him, from the Punjab Chief Minister, the SSP and the Deputy Commissioner of Tarn Taran. He has also held a protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, seeking justice for the physical and mental torture/harassment Jagjit Singh and his family has received from the culprit Punjab Police cops. Defeated, not having any money to even pay for the school admission of his children or for the three bodyguards that the government provided, he mortgaged his motorbike to pay for his protest march from Tarn Taran to knock on the door of the Prime Minister of India. So much so that the indicted cops harassed the vendor who had mortgaged his motorbike for Rupees 10,000/-. He has since been forced to change his mortgage vendor a third time.
To help support him financially and to professionally rehabilitate him, The Anad Foundation has offered him a job. He will be given an honorarium of Rupees 15,000/-, to work as an intern in the Anad Foundation’s audio-visual archives. He will be provided professional training so he can fulfill his dream to become a professional photographer and a cinematographer. His fight to get justice from the government – its civil and police administration will now be renewed with vigor. Subsequent, he has agreed to suspend his protest march.
Demands:
1. We demand the Akali Dal (Badal) member of Parliament, Professor Prem Singh Chandumajra to honour his commitment, that he gave on December 10, 2014, which was to give a compensation of Rupees 1.5 Lacs to Jagjit Singh.
2. The case, which is currently being cold shouldered by the authorities, be immediately taken up for necessary action and be put on fast-track. The government is also requested to prevent the indicted cops from bringing further discredit to the witnesses by coercion, bribe, threats of physical harm and blackmail. A pity that although the government did provide a security cover but instead of preventing the indicted cops from being able to connect with Jagjit Singh and his family in any possible way, they (the indicted cops) have even broached Jagjit Singh through his bodyguards with monetary offers of upto 20 Lacs if he were to toe their line.