20022025-JTR-01.qxd 2/19/2025 11:48 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune ONCE READERS' TOP CHOICE, LIBRARY FACES NEGLECT GARBAGE, GARBAGE EVERYWHERE IN PHAGWARA PROGRESSIVE PLATTER: FUSION FOOD IS THE BUZZWORD The library now stands abandoned, with no explanation for its deteriorating condition. P3 The new Phagwara Mayor Rampal is grappling with multiple challenges since he took office two weeks ago. P3 Turning the desi dining experience on its head, niche restaurants & cafés are now offering progressive food menu. P4 » » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 23°C | MIN 10°C YESTERDAY MAX 25°C | MIN 8°C SUNSET THURSDAY 6.18 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 7:03 AM THURSDAY | 20 FEBRUARY 2025 | JALANDHAR INBRIEF MAN BOOKED IN DOWRY CASE Phagwara: On a complaint lodged by German woman Jaquline Komal Sani, residing in Mehli Gate, Phagwara, the police have booked her husband Gurkirat Singh and his mother Harjinder Kaur residents of village Kohara near Ludhiana on the charge of torturing the complainant physically and mentally for more dowry. No arrest has been made so far. OC TRAVEL AGENT BOOKED Phagwara: On a complaint lodged by Davinder Kumar Jassal of Gobindpura, Phagwara, the police have booked a travel agent identified as Bhupinder Singh of village Bhattian near Phillaur under the Punjab Travels Professional Act on the charge of duping the complainant of lakhs of rupees in the pretext of sending him abroad. The victim told the police that neither the accused could send him abroad, nor returned his money. OC 4 ARRESTED FOR FLESH TRADE Phagwara: In a significant campaign against immoral activities launched by the police, a team of the police arrested two youths and two girls involved in immoral activities at village Nangal near Phagwara on Tuesday. The arrested boys identified as Karanpreet Singh of Satnampura and Ravneet Singh of Hadiabad (Phagwara) were booked under the Immoral Act. The police raided a house in the village Nangal and nabbed them. The police have seized Rs 1,360. OC Nurpur villagers block PAP Chowk, commuters hassled Newly wed found hanging in room, in-laws on the run Protesters allege Valmiki temple in village being targeted by panchayat Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 19 Representatives of the Dalit community blocked PAP Chowk for over three hours, lodging their protest against the panchayat of Nurpur Chatha village that wants to free the common land used by the community for Valmiki temple. They said the panchayat land was being used for religious sites in various villages. “Various religious structures are often raised on panchayat land but the Valmiki temple in our village is being targeted by our panchayat. The action is one-sided and deliberate. Even the police are siding with the panchayat”, alleged Joginder S Mann, Chairman, Adivasi Gian Nath Puran Sangharsh Dal, who led the protest. The agitators alleged, “The panchayat and the police have been specifically targeting the Dalit community of our village over one issue or the other.” The protesters were also joined by residents of Jalalpur village of Lohian where sacrilege of religious scriptures had taken place. “As many as 60 pages of our granth were found torn. We lodged a complaint with the police. The FIR has been registered against unknown persons”, they said. Residents of Nurpur village block PAP Chowk, Jalandhar; and (right) a scene of traffic jam. TRIBUNE PHOTO: MALKIAT SINGH During the protest, the commuters faced trouble and had to take long route to reach their destinations. The commuters from the Rama Mandi side entering Jalandhar were directed via Jalandhar Cantonment instead of the highway. The commuters from Phagwara side to Amritsar remained unaffected as the flyover was not blocked. Only the road beneath the flyover remained blocked. Several passengers who often take buses from PAP Chowk instead of the bus stand could not catch a bus from the site as the buses Phagwara: The police have booked a woman on the charge of smuggling and selling liquor. The accused has been identified as Amarjit Kaur of Mullewal Arayian village. The accused smuggled liquor from other districts at odd hours and sell these to her customers and a case under the Punjab Excise Act was registered. oc Winning advocates of the District Bar Association, Kapurthala, celebrate on Wednesday. FIVE BOOKED FOR ASSAULT Malli is Kapurthala Bar chief THREE ARRESTED FOR HOUSE THEFT Phagwara: The police have arrested three persons for stealing. The accused have been identified as Rajindar Singh, Akash Deep and Ravindar Kumar of Batrh Kalan village. Prabhu Dass of the same village complained to the police that the accused stole inverter set, a goat, 20 kg stone, one iron shaft and other valuables from his house. oc Tribune News Service Kapurthala, February 19 SS Malli was elected president of the Kapurthala Bar Association unanimously today while Rajat Dhillon was the vice-president, Amandeep Singh Bawa secretary, Gurpreet Singh Bhatti joint secretary, Manjit Kaur junior vice-president and Harmandeep Singh Bawa was elected as the treasurer. The Kapurthala Bar Association witnessed a day of intense discussions and activity as the nomination and election process concluded. Phagwara: The police have arrested a 'drug peddler' on the charge of selling intoxicated tablets. These were recovered from the possession of accused Amandeep of Mohalla Ravidass Pura Talwann village. oc The nomination event was attended by prominent advocates, including Harcharan Singh, Karam Singh Ahluwalia, Neelam Pratap, JJS Arora, RK Sharma, Mohit Kapoor, Rajiv Puri, TS Dhillon, Manu Dev Gautam, Piyush Manchanda, Anuj Annd, BS Momi, Rajesh Sharma, Hamish Kumar, Ajay Kanda, Suket Gupta, Inderjit Thind, SS Walia, Nitin Sharma, Darshan Singh, Gyan Singh Noorpuri, Deepika Sheetal, Paramjit Kaur Kahlon, Tarunum Walia, and Sandeep Singh Walia, RS Rawat among others. muters towards internal roads, not allowing them to reach near the protest site. Drug cartel busted, 258g heroin seized Kartarpur, February 19 The Pendu Mazdoor Union staged a protest in front of the Kartarpur DSP office for more than 3 hours today, alleging anti-Dalit labour attitude of the police in the cases that have been pending for a long time. They also protested against implicating union leader KS Atwal in false cases. DSP Vijay Kunwar Pal, after holding a meeting with union leaders, met protesters and assured them of action registering a case against those who had allegedly trapped Dalit workers in a cycle of debt by manipulation and forgery; recovering the trolley and motorcycle stolen by a financier of Mustafapur; action against those who tried to illegally occupy the house of an elderly woman from Baljot Nagar; action under the SC/ST Act against the upper caste people who attacked a Dalit family of Fatehjalal and investigating and taking action in the murder case registered against former Sarpanch of Kalyanpur Iqbal Singh to ensure provision of justice - in two days. — TNS Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 19 In a crackdown on drug trafficking, the Jalandhar Commissionerate Police has arrested a key suspect and seized 258 gram of heroin from his possession. Commissioner of Police Swapan Sharma said the operation was launched based on specific intelligence about heroin smuggling in the city. Acting on a tip-off, police teams laid a trap near Kaki Gurdwara Sahib in Jalandhar, where they intercepted a suspect identified as Rajpal, alias Pali, a resident of Ravidas Colony. Upon searching him, officers found 52 gram of heroin in his possession, leading to his immediate arrest. A case was registered. During questioning, Pali reportedly disclosed information about a larger drug trafficking operation, prompting the police to expand their investigation. Acting on his confession, a police team recovered an additional 206 gram of heroin from a concealed location near Dillwan village. PSEB Class VIII, XII exams start Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 19 As many as 22,133 students of Class VIII appeared in examination for English at 178 centres set up across the district on Wednesday. The students said the paper was easy and they were able to attempt it well in time. “There was nothing which was out of syllabus. The paper came as per the pattern we were given by our teachers”, said Tanu, a student of Government Senior Secondary School, Nehru Garden. The examination for Class XII also started today. Nearly 19,178 students appeared for the paper in Home Science which was conducted at 160 centres set up in the city. Ekta’s case hearing adjourned Our Correspondent PHAGWARA,FEBRUARY 19 The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing to September 16, on a petition filed by television serial producer Ekta Kapoor in connection with a case registered against her and others by the Nakodar police in 2013. It was listed before the Bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Berry, who adjourned the hearing to September 16. Kapoor, her mother Shobha Kapoor, four members of her team involved in the production of serial Pavitra Rishta, and Zee TV owner had been booked by the police for hurting religious sentiments of the Valmiki community. The case was lodged after Rauni Gill, president of the Bhartiya Valmiki Sarav Dharam Samaj and resident of Shankar, complained to the police that the August 5, 2013, episode of the serial had made derogatory and objectionable references towards Maharishi Valmiki which hurt religious sentiments of the community. Victim returns from Oman, shares scary experience Garbage on vacant plots, Tribune News Service DRUG PEDDLER ARRESTED The association had declared February 18 and 19 as a nowork day for lawyers to facilitate the filing of nomination papers. By the end of the day, it became evident that this year’s election would be a unanimous selection, as no contesting candidates came forward for any post. The polling was otherwise scheduled for February 28. Bar Association president Advocate Rajbir Bawa expressed satisfaction over the unanimous selection, stating that the Bar members had collectively decided to elect a team through consensus rather than contest. could not reach the blocked PAP Chowk. The traffic police had diverted the com- PMU’s protest over cops’ anti-Dalit stance WOMAN HELD FOR SMUGGLING Phagwara: The police have booked five villagers for assaulting a co-villager. The accused belong to Seham village. Gurmail complained to the police that he was going to dump garbage on December 23 when the accused waylaid and attacked him, injuring him seriously. oc Jalandhar, February 19 A case of alleged suicide and another case of attempted one by two women have been reported in Jalandhar in the last 48 hours. While a 24-year-old woman Lalita was found hanging from a fan in her room, (though murder has been alleged by her family) at the Malko village on Tuesday morning, in the second case, a 50-year-old woman set herself on fire over a property dispute. Lalita was married only three months ago. Her parents alleged that her body was hanged after her murder by her in-laws. The police said the cause of her death could only be ascertained after the post-mortem report arrived. The woman’s post-mortem was conducted at the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, on Wednesday. The report is awaited. The parents of the woman alleged that she had been facing harassment over the repeated dowry demands being made by her in-laws. An FIR under section 80 of the BNS has been registered at the Lambra police station against the in-laws on the complaint of Lalita’s parents. Her husband Gaurav, mother-in-law Bhawani, brotherin-law Anil and sister-in-law Bhavna have been booked. The deceased’s father alleged that they received a call on Tuesday morning from Lalita’s bother-in-law (her husband’s elder brother) that their daughter wasn’t opening the door of her room. He alleged that when he reached her house, his daughter was already dead. Lalita’s father Ramshewar further alleged that despite spending Rs 17 lakh on the wedding, her in-laws started harassing her for dowry soon after the marriage. SHO, Lambra, Pankaj Kumar, said, “The in-laws are absconding.” Meanwhile, in another case, a woman set herself on fire over a property dispute. Surjit Kaur, 50, of Eespur village set herself on fire over a property dispute concerning a land near her village in Jalandhar. The incident happened around 5 pm on Tuesday. Agonised by pain of fire, the woman herself tried to douse the fire with mud, then jumped in a water body nearby. A video of the woman’s act also went viral on social media. The woman had reportedly alleged that she was not getting her share in the disputed land. She alleged the opposite party’s men came to forcibly sow crops on it. She had also allegedly complained regarding this to officials, but was disappointed over no action. She is under treatment. Kapurthala, February 19 In a disturbing turn of events, a victim from Jalandhar, after enduring two years of inhumane treatment in Oman, has returned to India with the help of environmentalist and Rajya Sabha member Balbir Singh Seechewal. The victim, expressing her gratitude to Seechewal in Sultanpur Lodhi, referring her return as her “second birth.” The victim recounted her journey, revealing that she had gone to Muscat, Oman, two years ago in search of a better future. However, upon the expiration of her visa, she discovered that she had not been sent to work, but had been sold into forced labour. She described severe physical and mental abuse at the hands of those who bought her, including physical violence and threats. According to her, more than 50 other young women were also trapped under similar circumstances, enduring unimaginable torment. The victim shared that although she had lost hope of ever returning home, she, c m y b along with several other girls, was finally able to come back due to the efforts of Seechewal. Her journey back home was delayed as she had been falsely accused of theft, resulting in a fine. During the last 11 months, she heard the heart-breaking stories of over 50 other girls who were also suffering in similar conditions. ‘Third-degree torture’ The victim disclosed that many girls in Oman were jailed on fake charges. She described how a girl had been so severely tortured by her agent that her legs were badly injured, requiring urgent medical attention. However, instead of receiving the care, the girl was accused of theft and sent to jail. owners to face fine Hoshiarpur, February 19 Instructions are issued by the Municipal Corporation to all owners of vacant plots in the city that within 7 days, they should either make the boundarywall of their plots or get these fenced so that no one throws garbage in these plots. If the MC team sees garbage lying in any open plot during checking, then the team will collect the fee from the owner of the plot for cleaning and the amount of the fine will be added in the property tax. Apart from this, the NOC to be issued for the plot will also be stopped. — OC