One dead in Punjab over Rajoana's death sentence

Chandigarh: Clash between right-wing Hindu activists and Sikhs in Gurdaspur on whether Balwant Singh Rajoana should go to the gallows or not for killing former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh has led to the death of one person due to police firing. In order to disperse the two groups, police allegedly opened fire in which one person died and another was injured, sources said. Curfew was today clamped in the city following the communal tension.[caption id=“attachment_259990” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Members of Sikh organisations clash with the police during the Punjab shutdown in Amritsar on Wednesday. PTI “]  [/caption] “Curfew has been imposed in Gurdaspur City after tension mounted between some Shiv Sainiks and other youths, including Sikhs,” Gurdaspur deputy commissioner Mohinder Singh Kainth said. He said that the Shiv Sainiks had given a call for Gurdaspur shutdown today in the wake of registration of cases against some persons following clashes during Punjab shutdown on Wednesday. During the shutdown most of the establishments owned by Hindus were closed whereas those belonging to Sikhs were open, sources said. This led to a face off between the two groups mounting tension in the city. The right wing organisations were protesting against the registration of cases against 14 Hindus following a scuffle on Wednesday, sources said. Police opened fire in the air to disperse the mob in Hanuman Chowk in the heart of the border town. Police also cane-charged and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the mob, sources said. Meanwhile, Kainth said that the situation was “under control”. On Wednesday, normal life was crippled across Punjab which witnessed sporadic violence during the day-long shutdown, called by radical Sikh outfits, to protest the scheduled hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana. PTI