Indian Army’s Western Command chief Lieutenant General Mohit Wadhwa and Punjab’s Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav reiterated their respective organisations’ commitment to the case , in a joint press conference held at Punjab Bhawan in the capital Chandigarh , on Tuesday. Both the officers read out prepared statements and left before any questions were asked by the media.
Western Command GoC Lieutenant General Mohit Wadhwa said, “We reiterate the need for a fair and honest investigation in a transparent and very timely manner to punish the culprits and restore faith in the system.” He said that the guilty policemen should be punished in a timely and exemplary manner. Lieutenant General Wadhwa said, “I would like to assure everyone that the Indian Army is fully committed to take the matter to its logical conclusion.
At the same time, DGP Gaurav Yadav said that anyone who attacks a serving military officer will be dealt with strictly according to the law. DGP Yadav said, “The investigation will be completed expeditiously so that the culprits can be punished as soon as possible.”
Earlier on Monday, a petition was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on behalf of Colonel Bath, demanding that the investigation of the case be handed over to the CBI or any other independent agency.
Colonel Bath alleges that 12 Punjab Police personnel attacked him and his son on the night of March 13-14 over a parking dispute in Patiala. The video of the attack went viral on social media. After this, Patiala SSP Dr Nanak Singh said that an FIR has been registered in the case. He announced legal and departmental inquiry against the accused policemen, but the victim side was not satisfied with this. An Indian Administrative Service officer was also asked to investigate the matter.
The case of police’s misbehavior and attack on Colonel Bath, posted in Army Headquarters in Delhi, reached the leadership of Indian Army. Bath family even met Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria. Protests started regarding this matter in which ex-servicemen participated.
Meanwhile, due to media coverage and viral content on social media, this matter started taking the form of ‘army versus police’. Probably due to the pressure of these circumstances, the top leadership of the police and army in the state had to come together in front of the media.
Last week, Punjab Police registered a new FIR based on the statement of Colonel Bath. To conduct the investigation in an “impartial and speedy manner”, a high level special investigation team has been formed whose monitoring has been entrusted to an officer of the level of Additional Director General of Police (additional dgp).
Punjab DGP said, “An FIR has been registered at Patiala’s Civil Lines police station on the statement of the Colonel on March 22. Colonel Bath’s statement contains the names of the police officers who attacked him.” DGP Yadav said that the SIT has been instructed to complete the investigation as soon as possible.
