The police have granted Kulwant Singh Rauke a six-day parole from Assam’s Dibrugarh jail. The parole is for Rauke to attend his uncle Bhagwant Singh’s death ceremonies. Rauke is an associate of Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, chief of Waris Punjab De. The parole is ‘in-custody’ which means during the parole period Rauke would remain in police custody. A police party would accompany him during all family rituals. Rauke reached his village Rauke in Moga district on 1 Jan to attend Bhagwant Singh’s cremation. Amritpal Singh and his nine associates have been booked under the National Security Act over charges related to violence at Ajnala Police Station in Feb 2023. This is the first gesture of consideration by the state towards these prisoners (SDW Vol. 1 Issue 10, Story 7). Meanwhile, in pursuance with the cordon and search operations (CASO) since the above mentioned arrests, on 2 Jan, the Panjab police conducted a special operation code named OPS Eagle-III in all 28 police districts in the state. Police teams frisked people arriving and departing at 134 bus stands and 181 railway stations. At least 917 suspicious persons were rounded up for questioning. The police have arrested 24 alleged criminals after registering 21 first information reports (FIRs). On 9 Jan, the police again conducted CASO operations related to drug trafficking. 600 police teams cordoned off 268 drug hotspots and 5,505 suspicious persons were frisked. The police have registered 202 FIRs and arrested 48 persons including 21 proclaimed offenders. Unlike any other Indian state, through these repeated interferences by police in everyday life, Panjab is certainly turning into a police state.
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