After a barrage of attacks from the Opposition on “intelligence failure” and the lack of corrective measures that could have prevented the Dina Nagar terror strike, the Punjab government is seemingly in for some more embarrassment.
The family of the Superintendent of Police (SP)-Detective Baljit Singh, who valiantly died fighting militants on Monday, has refused to cremate his body ahead of Wednesday's scheduled visit of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to his house in the Kapurthala district to offer his condolence.
But for this scheduled engagement in Kapurthala and Dina Nagar, Badal has cancelled most of his engagements since he is unwell and running a high fever. His son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is in Poland, seeking investment for Punjab.
The SP's family said the body would not be cremated until they received a written assurance from the government with appointment letters of SP rank for the martyr's son and the post of revenue officer for his daughters.
As fate would have it, Baljit Singh's father Achhar Singh, a Punjab Police assistant sub-inspector (ASI), had died in another militant attack some 30 years ago. Achar was conducting a search operation in Moga during the days of militancy in Punjab. Baljit's brother and family said they had to struggle for over a year before Baljit was given the post of an ASI.
The SP's widow, Kulwant Kaur, said the family had suffered a lot at the time of her father-in-law's death to get appointment for her husband.
Some voices indicate the family's move of “directing' such demands a day after the brave officer's death could reduce the significance of the SP's martyrdom to a controversy. The government has already announced a job for the next of kin of those martyred in the terror strike. Baljit has two daughters and a son, all in their 20s. One of his daughters was recently engaged and the family was planning her marriage soon.
(Published 28 July 2015, 20:05 IST)