statesman news service
Chandigarh, 7 Sept: A 55-year-old Punjab woman was allegedly crushed to death by a tractor for objecting to illegal mining in her neighbourhood.
The victim, Lachcho, a resident of Rame village in Shahkot tehsil of Jalandhar district, was allegedly hit by the tractor trolley at least twice before being crushed to death on the spot under the vehicle on Thursday.
She has been holding protests for some time now over the illegal mining in the neighbourhood which caused soil erosion, noise pollution and damaged the public roads in the vicinity. The suspects allegedly indulged in illegal sand mining even from the victim’s field.
Following protests by the victim’s family members, Jalandhar rural police on Friday were forced to register a fresh FIR with sections of murder under IPC sections 302, 452 (wrongful restraint and trespassing house with intention to hurt) and 148 and 149 (rioting) against one Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Rame village.
Police had earlier registered the FIR only under charges of negligent and rash driving on the road.
Besides three unidentified people, three other suspects named in the FIR include Joginder Singh, Manjit Singh and Jarnail Singh.
The senior superintendent of police (SSP), Jalandhar (rural), Mr Yurinder Singh Hayer said investigation so far has revealed that the victim and the tractor trolley drivers had a heated argument before the incident.
Ever since Punjab and Haryana High Court banned illegal sand and stone mining from the riverbeds of Satluj in the Shahkot and Nakodar areas of Jalandhar in November 2012, villagers have been taking on the mining mafia.