New Delhi, Dec 6 (IANS) The National Commission for Women Tuesday slammed the Punjab government for not taking strong action against the sarpanch (village head) who publicly slapped a woman teacher Monday at Gidderbaha in the state.
‘We had taken suo-motu cognizance of the incident and we have asked the state to send report why this happened. The reports we are getting from Punjab say the Akalis (Dal) have their monopoly, they bully people and atrocities against women are on rise,’ NCW chairperson Mamta Sharma told TV channels.
The NCW chairperson said that a committee will be sent to the state to probe the case.
‘I have decided that we will constitute a committee and send it to Punjab to know why is that in this democratic set-up a people’s representative slapped a woman publicly and there was neither any action from the chief minister nor any one else,’ she said.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) sarpanch of Gidderbaha, Baljinder Singh slapped woman teacher Varinder Kaur when she and other teachers tried to meet Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s wife and MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal for jobs.
The sarpanch was arrested Tuesday but reports said he has already been granted bail.