Gurdaspur, April 3
All private schools and colleges in Gurdaspur district will remain closed on April 4 in protest against the “illegal” arrest of leading educationist Sawinder Singh Gill by the police in a case pertaining to the rape of a 4-year-old girl.
Mohit Mahajan, president of the Gurdaspur unit of the Federation of Private Schools, Punjab, who is spearheading the agitation to get Gill released said if the police did not release him by Monday evening, all private educational institutions would remain closed indefinitely. There are 220-odd private schools and colleges in this district.
Mohit presided over a meeting of the federation held at Sukhjinder Group of Institutes here today. “The decision to close schools was unanimous,” he said.
Gill, director of the school where the girl studies, and Jaideep Singh, principal, have been booked under various sections of the IPC after the incident came to light.
Sources say although there is no direct involvement of Gill and his nephew in the crime, the police “buckled under sustained pressure by the girl’s family”.
The kin had blocked the Amritsar-Gurdaspur National Highway for several hours on Friday, demanding the arrest of the school’s director. The blockade was lifted only after Gill and Jaideep were named in the FIR.
Meanwhile, a local court remanded both the accused in one-day police custody.
Asked about the demand to release Gill, SSP Harjit Singh said the police were still working on the case. “It is too early to comment at this stage because investigations are still in progress,” he said. —
Gurdaspur private institutes shut today
{$excerpt:n}
