1 dead, 12 hurt in anti-DJJS protest

LUDHIANA/PHAGWARA: Ludhiana continued to burn for the third consecutive day on Saturday, when a clash between police and Panthic Sikh organizations

— protesting a religious congregation of Noormahal-based dera Divya Jyoti Jagran Sansthan (DJJS) — left one person dead and 12 injured. With violence threatening to spill over to other parts of Punjab, curfew was clamped in the entire city by evening even as paramilitary personnel and Rapid Action Force trooped down to maintain law and order.

In the midst of unsavoury questions being raised as to why the dera function — where one lakh people were expected — was allowed in city which witnessed widespread violence a day before, when migrants spewed anger against police for not acting on their complaints against robbery, anti-dera protesters started converging at Shaheedan Ferumaan Gurdwara near Dholewal flyover.

Demanding cancellation of the function — something which they had been seeking since many weeks — agitators, led by former jathedar of Akal Takht Jasbir Singh Rode and radical leaders Damdami Taksal chief Mokham Singh and Harnam Singh, were unstoppable. Brandishing swords and sharp-edged weapons, as protesters stormed out of the gurdwara, authorities led by deputy commissioner Vikas Garg and DIG SS Chauhan tried to dissuade them before reportedly ordering a baton charge, firing in the air and lobbying tear gas shells.