Dinanagar SHO suspended, lawyers to resume work

The Gurdaspur police has placed the services of Dinanagar SHO Amritpal Singh Randhawa under suspension, following which the Gurdaspur District Bar Association (DBA) has decided to resume work from tomorrow. Litigants will get some respite as work had come to a standstill in the judicial complex following the three-day strike.

Raj Paul Singh, president of the DBA, confirmed the development. “Lawyers will commence work from tomorrow. Our demand has been met,” he said.

A few days ago, the SHO had arrested a disabled ex-Army man from the chamber of lawyer Dilbagh Singh Saini, a development which had angered the lawyers’ fraternity. They had decided to strike work till the police suspended the officer, apart from filing an FIR against him.

In a day of hectic development and with both sides remaining adamant on their respective positions, the DBA had decided to call a state-wide strike if the police did not suspend the officer by evening. As the deadline was drawing close, news came from the SSP office that the SHO had been suspended. The suspension order has been signed by Dinanagar DSP.

Interestingly, Amritpal was due for promotion to the rank of inspector in a few days. Today’s order of suspending him may act as an impediment to his promotion. The demand to get an FIR registered against the SHO had been dropped by the striking advocates. This development had opened the doors of a settlement.

SSP Aditya had yesterday transferred the officer to the Police Lines and had also initiated a department inquiry against him. Even as the SSP had taken action, the lawyers claimed the police had not done enough and stuck to their demand of getting the officer suspended.

Meanwhile, the SHO said he was ready to apologise, but nobody from the DBA asked him to express regret. He was even carrying an apology letter with him and said that he was ready to hand it over to the DBA to ensure that the matter ended amicably.

Amritsar