Chandigarh, March 21— Leader of Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa on Friday demanded the immediate transfer of Patiala SSP Nanak Singh over police brutality against serving Army Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath and his son.
Raising the issue during zero hour on the first day of the 2025-26 budget session, Bajwa called for a probe by a committee headed by a sitting or retired judge, to be completed within a week.
“The way SSP Nanak Singh handled the entire episode of police cruelty shows he is shielding his men in uniform. He even failed to mention the names of the accused personnel in the FIR. His biased approach since day one makes his transfer necessary,” Bajwa said in the assembly.
Drawing a parallel with a 1992 incident in Chandigarh, Bajwa recalled how a Punjab SSP was found guilty of brutality against a Lieutenant Colonel following a joint inquiry by an Army Brigadier and a Police DIG.
“The SSP was subsequently transferred. The same must happen now,” he asserted.
Bajwa warned that if the Punjab government failed to deliver justice, the Union government should intervene.
“The Punjab Police’s reputation is already tarnished. After this incident, the entire country is looking down on them,” he said.
In a press statement, Bajwa accused the AAP-led Punjab government of abandoning the ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ motto. “If a Sikh man’s turban cannot be protected in a Sikh-majority state, what can be expected from the rest of the country? Neither jawan nor kisan feels safe in Punjab anymore,” he stated.
Bajwa also criticized the AAP government’s drug crackdown, calling it an “eyewash.” He questioned why the government bulldozes the homes of small-time peddlers but spares the “big fish,” naming dismissed AIG Raj Jit Singh Hundal and DSP Gursher Singh Sandhu. “Why hasn’t their property been demolished?” he asked.
