FEROZEPUR: A field officer of Punjab Agriculture Development Bank (PADB) was allegedly taken hostage by nearly 300
farmers on Saturday, when he had gone to Mehma village, 22km from here, to recover installments from cultivators who had defaulted on farm debts.
The field officer,
Peeyush Bansal, was released a few hours later, after police intervened and assured the farmers of the bank not sending any more officials to recover overdue loan amounts.
On the basis of a complaint submitted by PADB manager Ved Parkash, a case was registered against Mehmabased farmer Harnek Singh, who allegedly led the mob, and several unidentified people at
Lakho Ke Behram police station on Sunday, according to SHO Ashok
Kumar, the investigating officer of the case.
The cop confirmed that no arrest had been made so far. The SHO said they could not take any action against the mob because just getting Bansal out of the hostage situation was difficult. “We could not have made any arrests at that time. People were angry, and police action at such a time could have led to a lawand-order situation,” he said.
The farmers have said the bank official was insensitive and used “indecent language”, and this angered them so much that they took him hostage. Farmers from the village claimed that the government had asked bank employees not to go to houses of farmers for forcibly recovering loans, but they had not stopped visiting them.
The case has been registered under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In his statement to the police, the bank manager said Harnek Singh had already been booked by the police for detaining bank officials by locking a bank from inside at Guru Har Sahai in January. However, no arrest was made in that case too.
Representative image