Chandigarh: Punjab DIG (prisons) Capt Lakhminder Singh Jakhar submitted his resignation last week, saying he was doing so because he wanted to stand with the farmers protesting against the three contentious Central farm laws. He said his resignation should be treated as premature retirement.
Capt Jakhar, who had served in the Army, had joined as a 1994-batch Punjab Police Service (PPS) officer and was to superannuate in August 2022. The DIG had been suspended in May after a preliminary inquiry into charges of graft for allegedly demanding monthly payments from jails officials. However, he had denied all allegations against him at the time. “He was reinstated over a month ago. But the regular departmental inquiry is still pending against him,” IGP (prisons) Roop Kumar Arora said.
Capt Jakhar had hit the headlines in March 2012 when as Patiala jail superintendent he had refused to execute the death warrant of former Punjab CM Beant Singh’s assassin, Balwant Singh Rajoana. He faced contempt of court charges for his refusal but these charges were finally dropped by the Punjab and Haryana high court.
In his letter to the principal secretary of the home department, Capt Jakhar wrote, “I, Capt Lakhminder Singh Jakhar, DIG, prisons, would like to inform you of my considered and introspective decision to stand with my farmer brothers who are peacefully protesting against the farm ordinances, 2020 (sic) which are detrimental to the interest of farmers and their future generations.”
The letter adds, “As I am myself a farmer by birth and same being inherited by me from my forefathers who tilled their agricultural lands with hands to grow food and serve the mankind (sic). I have always listened to my conscience and now I earnestly feel that I should stand by my brotherhood.”
More farmers head to Delhi
Apprehending that the standoff between farmers and the Union government may be a prolonged affair after talks between the two sides turned out to be futile, a large number of farmers from Punjab and Haryana have started for Delhi to join the protests. The farmers’ unions from Punjab and Haryana have started sending new batches of young farmers to join the protestors camping at Singhu and Tikri borders of Delhi.
With the new batches of farmers heading towards the national capital, the Delhi police beefed up security arrangements at all the entry and exit points besides deploying additional police and paramilitary forces. The various alternative routes to Delhi from Punjab and Haryana have also been sealed.
