R.D. Bharadwaj “Noorpuri”Last Sunday, when some teachers went to the village Daula in District Muktsar of Punjab to submit a memorandum to Mrs. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Shiromani Akali Dal MP from Bathinda, they were stopped by Sarpanch of the village, Balwinder Singh, from proceeding further. Mrs. Badal (daughter-in-law of Prakash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Punjab) had gone there to participate in a Sangat Darshan programme. Balwinder Singh, also a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal, saw the protesting teachers and told them to leave the venue. But when the delegation led by a lady teacher, Varinder Kaur insisted on going ahead to submit their memorandum to the MP for regularisation of their jobs, Balwinder Singh brutally slapped Varinder Kaur several times. Not only that, she was also pushed and pulled by her hair, in full public view of local police and the electronic and print media captured that incident alive on camera and showed it on their respective news channels / papers.
It is really a matter of shame and huge loss of values that no politician worth his salt has come forward and condemned the shameful treatment given to a woman teacher. It really makes a mockery of functioning of our so called just society. Surprisingly, a just a few days before this incidence, when angry citizen called Varinder Singh had slapped the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in Delhi, all politicians, cutting across the party lines vehemently condemned the incident unanimously in Parliament and demanded a strict action on the assaulting man, who was protesting against high rising inflation, which hits the poor people very badly and he also thought that the said minister was responsible for triggering inflation. But now when the similar incidence had happened to a lady teacher who had gone there to highlight the problems of the temporary teachers working in Punjab, no politician has dared to display the similar sense of responsibility and concern for a member of the fair sex (who also happens to be a teacher), and demand action on the assaulting the uncouth village head Balwinder Singh, simply because the accused Sarpanch is a functionary of a political party ? Not only that, when the next day, those teachers went to Chandigarh to meet Sukhbir Singh Badal, Dy. CM of Punjab, not to speak of taking any punitive action on the arrogant Sarpanch, he even refused to give the delegation of teachers a patient hearing.
The Punjab police also had initially failed to stop the unpleasant incident from happening by stopping the cruel Sarpanch, has again erred by registering a weak case against the accused uncivilized Sarpanch, who has been reportedly released on bail just a few hours of his arrest. The village head who does not have due respect and regard for the women and etiquettes to deal with the members of fair sex (who also happens to be a teacher), should be summarily dismissed from his post and also deserves to be given his due share of punishment, so that proper justice could be done to the aggrieved teacher. Physical assault on women cannot be accepted in any civilised society, and more particularly in a democratic polity.
This very clearly reflects the double standards prevalent amongst our politicians and police as well. It is also a matter of shame that two similar events have been given such a varying degree of attention and treatment simply because one happens to be a high profile politician, while the other is just an ordinary citizen and a member of fair sex.
