The brutal incident that took place in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab yesterday shook the entire Punjab and at the same time, this brutal incident has increased the hatred and anger among Punjabis towards their brothers from UP and Bihar. An innocent child living in the New Deep Nagar area of Hoshiarpur was kidnapped and murdered by his brother from UP after abusing him. The child’s name was Harbir Billa, age five years, whose family had come to Hoshiarpur from Phagwara two months ago and had started living in New Deep Nagar. When Harbir went to play from home in the evening, he was kidnapped and murdered by a brother named Manke Yadav, a resident of UP. When Manke Yadav was arrested by the police, he was drunk and the child’s body was recovered from the crematorium. There were many marks on the child’s body and face, which clearly showed that the child was brutally murdered. From the marks on the body and limbs, it is also suspected that the child was also molested. The murderer is a migrant brother who had committed many crimes before coming to Punjab.
Videos of the child’s parents and the child’s innocent sister crying went viral on social media, which further increased anger in the area. After the child’s last rites, a major protest was held in Hoshiarpur city on September 11, in which roads were blocked and justice was demanded. The city was closed for two days. Resolutions against the Bhaiyyas started coming up in the villages adjoining Hoshiarpur. Many markets in the city announced boycotting the Bhaiyyas. The Bhaiyyas’ huts, shops, and stalls have been vacated. Announcements have also been made not to keep Bhaiyyas as tenants in many areas of the city.
Decision of village sarpanches
After this brutal incident, the sarpanches of about 20 villages have taken a serious decision – they will not issue residence certificates to the Bhaiyyas (migrant workers) and no Bhaiyya without official documents issued by the Punjab government will be allowed to live in the village. The sarpanches said that this decision has been taken not only because of this murder in Hoshiarpur, but also keeping in mind other crimes being committed by Bhaiyyas in Punjab. They also appealed to the Hoshiarpur Deputy Commissioner for cooperation.
Bajwara village sarpanch Rajesh Kumar ‘Bobby’ Mahe said, “This matter was already going on in our panchayat. In our village, the Bhaiya family is occupying the panchayat land and we will vacate it. This horrific incident in Hoshiarpur has shaken us. From now on, we will not issue residence papers to the Bhaiyas and those without Punjab government documents will not be allowed to live in the village. Our panchayat passed this resolution on September 10 and most panchayats will also do the same.”
Sarpanch Kuldeep Kumar of Qila Baru village said, “Most of the panchayats have passed these resolutions on Thursday and Friday. The population of Bhaiyas is increasing in Punjab and their increasing involvement in crimes is a matter of concern. Many Bhaiyas have made Aadhaar cards in Punjab and have also got their names written in the voter list, but now we are banning the issuance of new residence papers. This decision is so that an incident like Hoshiarpur does not happen to anyone.”
Why is the protest movement spreading against Bhaiyas
Cases of crimes against Bhaiyas are increasing in Punjab.
On September 6, residents blocked the Phagwara-Chandigarh National Highway for two hours in Rail Majra of Nawanshahr district due to misbehavior of Punjabis and Sikhs by Bhaiyas. The police registered a case against six people, including Sarpanch Mohan Gupta of Prem Nagar village and his son Sujit Kumar. These incidents have stirred regional sentiments and the decision of the sarpanches is getting support from the people. This decision has started a new discussion on the challenges related to the population of brothers and crimes in Punjab.
Gram Panchayat Lodipur, Panchayat Lodipur Barotu Bas, Panchayat Jhuggian Bas from Rupnagar have passed a resolution and given ten days to the people of other states to get their police verification done. These three panchayats said that if the inter-state person does not get the police verification done within ten days, he will be thrown out of the village.
Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Lodipur Jhuggian Navpreet Kaur, Sarpanch of Lodipur Barotu Bas Neelam Sharma and Sarpanch of village Lodipur Babu Ram said that people from other states do illegal work in Punjab. They said that a large number of people from other states live in our village. Due to which the villagers are facing a lot of difficulties.
Due to the above incidents, they gave ten days to the people from other states living in the village to get their Punjab verification done in the General Court. The Panchayats said that if anyone does not get the verification done within these ten days, then he will be thrown out of the village. Along with this, a resolution was passed to get the tenants and people living in camps police verification done.
Social worker Gangveer Rathore believes that senior police officers are differentiating between the people of this region and the people of their own region because they are from outside Punjab? After the murders by migrants in Kumbhra, when the news of the boycott spread in the villages, the police were probably working on the instructions of a senior police officer to stop it. Due to this incident in Punjab, there is a strong protest among Punjabis. Why is there not much talk about this murder in Hoshiarpur? Is the main reason for this that the murderer is a
Is it a local child who is being murdered?
Sikh thinker Parminder Singh Shawki says that the situation in which a child was murdered after being raped in Hoshiarpur is just one example of the crimes of the Bhaiyas in Punjab. You must have noticed that now, from the quarrels over street vendors in the cities to the kidnapping of girls from the villages, the Bhaiyas have become excessively involved in every crime. A large number of Bhaiyas who have settled in Punjab are of a criminal nature and have political patronage. He said that as the number of Bhaiyas has increased in Punjab, the crime in Punjab has increased at the same rate. The amazing thing is that no one is even concerned about this rate. An interesting example of this can be found in the fact that the government has no conscious interest in recording any such rate in Punjab as to how the immigrants who have come to its state are committing crimes. Nor has he ever mentioned this problem to the states from where these people come. Therefore, no concerted effort has been made so far to solve this problem. So, the responsible people have chosen one solution to expel the brothers from Punjab. He said that it is necessary for this that a strict policy should be made in Punjab which not only exposes the criminal immigrants, but also makes arrangements for their return. Along with this, Punjab’s own working class should be strengthened by providing employment so that Punjabi agriculture, industry and trade do not have to depend on non-Punjabi forces.
Punjabis believe that most of the time these immigrants commit crimes in their own state and come to Punjab to live and get their new identity cards made here. Mostly they go around getting two identity cards and the administration has never tried to investigate this matter. There should also be a ban on them getting ration cards and voter cards to stay permanently. There are laws in many states including Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan that Punjabis and people from other states cannot buy land or get ration cards and voter cards made. Such a law should be made soon in Punjab too. Now that voices have started rising against them in Punjab, the police and administration have started suppressing the local people and have started threatening to file cases on the instigation of the leaders. We still need to take care of our Punjab by acting wisely. We all Punjabis have to become the heirs of Punjab. Otherwise, one day we will be heard saying that where did our Punjab go?
During the child’s postmortem, the atmosphere became completely gloomy when the child’s father, mother and other people were crying in the middle of the people and family members waiting for the postmortem to be over. Every eye became moist when the elder seven-year-old innocent sister of the deceased Harveer, Jasmine, wiped her crying father’s eyes and said, “Dad, don’t cry, clean your eyes.” The mother of the deceased, Kulwinder Kaur, appealed to the police officers to bring the accused before her. She only wants to ask about her child’s guilt. She said that for the better future of herself and her child, they had changed the city and came here, but now they do not want to live here.
What does the DSP say
DSP Dev Dutt Sharma, who was present on the spot, said that he will submit the challan of this case within ten days and send this case to the fast track court so that the accused can be punished soon
Nihang Amritpal Singh Mehron’s conversation with the family of the deceased child on video call
Nihang Amritpal Singh Mehron has spoken to the victim’s family on video call. Mehron has assured the family that he will definitely get justice. He has said on the video call that if you do not get justice, then the accused will not be spared. He has said that have faith in the action of the police, if concrete action is not taken, then we will give justice according to our own means. He has said that the police should honestly take appropriate action against the accused, otherwise we will see to the accused ourselves.
