NRI woman threatens to sue Punjab Police
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
http://twocircles.net/2011jun20/nri_woman_threatens_sue_punjab_police.html
A France-based non-resident Indian (NRI) woman Monday threatened to move court against Punjab Police for allegedly implicating her in a false case.
Ludhiana based Joginder Kaur Sandhu, 63, who went abroad in 1972, accused the state police of working hand in glove with the land mafia, who illegally grabbed two houses she had purchased.
"After migrating to France, we bought two houses in Ludhiana. As we had no family members in India, the property fell an easy prey to the land mafia," Sandhu said at a press conference here.
"In 2004, when I came to Punjab, I faced an emergency and got a Rs.2 lakh loan from a local financier, Jaswinder Jassi. I paid back the entire loan amount in time."
"But on the very next day, on Dec 13, 2004, Jassi's men looted my house at gunpoint. They took away Rs.3.42 in cash and gold jewellery. When I approached the police, they refused to register an FIR (first information report)," she added.
Sandhu alleged that Jassi's men then illegally occupied her houses and even threw out the belongings of her tenants.
"When I again approached the police, they registered a case against me for trespassing into my own house. Police also took away my hundreds of euros, dollars, rupees, mobile phone and jewellery and arrested me," she said.
Sandhu said that no woman police officer was present at the police station when she was arrested.
She was then presented before a local court, which sent her in police remand. Later, she was sent to the jail, where she remained imprisoned for five months.
"I have not returned to France since 2004. I approached various police officers, including the Punjab Police chief, and many political leaders. My plea is still pending before Punjab's Director General of Police. If I do not get any satisfactory reply, then I will move the high court against Jassi and Punjab Police," she said.
Sandhu lives in Valence city of France. They run a restaurant and are also involved in an export business. Her son is a police officer in Lyon in France.
