Happy Passia Held in US; Panjab Police’s George Floyd Moment

On 18 Apr, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Harpreet Singh aka Happy Passia had been arrested by the FBI and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Sacramento, US. Kash Patel, Director FBI said, Singh was 'part of an alleged foreign terrorist gang here illegally in the US.' FBI says Singh had entered the US illegally and had been using burner phones to evade arrest. Singh is linked to 14 of 16 grenade attacks in Panjab over the past seven months, targeting police posts, religious sites and homes of public figures. He is specifically wanted by Indian authorities in connection with a grenade attack on a house in Chandigarh in September 2024. India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced a USD 5,855 reward to anyone who shared information about Singh. Meanwhile, on 19 Apr, Panjab police beat up unemployed teachers selected under 5,994 Elementary Teacher Training (ETT) backlog who were demanding their long-pending appointments in front of Education minister Harjot Singh Bains’ residence at village Ghambirpur, district Anandpur Sahib. An image of a Panjab cop resting his knee on the chest of a protester to pin him down shared by Indian National Congress leader Pargat Singh on his social media has elicited comparisons to the case of George Floyd, whose death had sparked protests against police brutality across the US and the world. The Democratic Teachers' Front (DTF) state president Vikram Dev Singh said, 'While the Panjab government is busy laying foundation stones under the banner of an ‘education revolution,' it is failing to address basic issues like teacher recruitment and education.' DTF said, ‘The 5,994 ETT recruitment process that began in 2022 remains incomplete. Appointment letters for around 2,600 posts were distributed at a public function by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann but only 1,200 teachers were actually appointed. The rest of the recruitment process was stalled, leaving around 3,000 teachers in limbo’ (earlier coverage).