TARN TARAN: Barely a day after Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu was murdered by two unidentified assailants at Bhikhiwind in Tarn Taran district on Friday morning, his widow Jagdish Kaur, who too is a Shaurya Chakra awardee, was provided three personal security officers (PSOs) on Saturday.
The cremation of Balwinder Singh, who fought terrorists since the heyday of militancy in Punjab, was held at Bhikhiwind on Saturday amid protests by his relatives against the district administration for ‘whimsically’ withdrawing his security cover.
‘Police failed to assess security threat to my husband’
The police, intelligence agencies and administration failed to rightly assess the security threat to my husband who was on the hit-list of terrorists for opposing them. The police should have at least analyzed the need for security for my husband in wake of attempts to revive the Khalistan movement through the Referendum 2020 campaign due to which Khalistan flags are being raised, slogans are being shouted, terrorists are being arrested with arms. They should have realized it all,” Jagdish Kaur told TOI.
Insisting that the family did not need security as a status symbol, like many were enjoying, she said the family faced a real security threat.
Balwinder’s brother in law Gulshanbir Singh said the family had approached top police brass and even the chief minister’s office to get proper security for the Shaurya Chakra awardee but to no avail. “They made Balwinder Singh beg for security whereas it should have been automatically given to the family, keeping in view their sacrifices and fight against the terrorists,” he said. Alleging that even the security cover had been politicized, he said there were many sarpanches who had 1-2 PSOs even when they did not face any real threat.
Balwinder Singh’s daughter Pranpreet Kaur said the security cover could have at least been a major deterrent to the assailants who murdered her father at point blank range. “If my father had the security cover, that could have at least served as a major deterrent to the assailants. Since there was no security cover, it made their (assailants’) task easier.”
The security given to the family had been withdrawn several times. “The governments used to provide security whenever we approached the higher officials only for it to be withdrawn when there was an election or any other event,” she said.
When asked why the Sandhu family’s security cover had been withdrawn, sub-divisional magistrate Rajesh Sharma said during the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic security was withdrawn from everyone in March.
He said the district administration would send its report on the educational qualifications and other details of the next of kin of Balwinder Singh for a government job.
The police are still clueless about the assailants. Superintendent of Police Jagdish Singh Walia said that the investigation had begun but refused to divulge details or any progress made so far. However, he said the police would soon arrest the culprits.