Illegal mining incident in Ludhiana reaches Punjab governor after attack on villagers and inaction by police.

Ludhiana: An alleged assault with swords and knives on a campaigner against illegal mining and her colleagues in this Punjab district on Thursday sparked outrage over police inaction and prompted the survivors to escalate their complaint to the state's governor.
The attack occurred at Sasrali Colony in the Meharban area, where the victims were targeted while attempting to intervene in a dispute involving an elderly woman and the operator of an alleged illegal tipper truck. The injured people, later, met Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Friday to demand quick action, accusing local police of ignoring their complaint.
The main complainant, a woman from Gaunsgarh village who conducts rural awareness seminars on illegal mining and child labour, has told police that the incident began when her teammate Gurdeep Singh of Sasrali Colony called to report that his elderly mother had been harassed after stopping a tipper truck from using a private colony road, which the locals have laid.
When the complainant and her team arrived, they witnessed the driver and his associates — including women — allegedly manhandling the elderly woman. As they tried to intervene, they were attacked with swords and knives, she has claimed. "We ran into a house for shelter, but they dragged us out and attacked us again. One of them tried to strike my head with a sword. I blocked it with my arms and sustained a deep cut requiring 15 stitches," the woman said. Her teammates Balraj Singh and Amandeep Singh also suffered serious injuries during the attack.
Despite filing police statements and submitting medico-legal reports, the survivors alleged that the Meharban-area cops had taken no action. The group then approached Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Jai Inder Kaur, daughter of former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who facilitated a meeting with governor Kataria. Following the meeting, the governor reportedly directed Ludhiana police to take firm action.
An FIR (first-information report) has since been registered against eight individuals — Usha, Tara Singh, Sukhveer Singh, Billa, Thandi, Pamma, Gurmukh, and an unidentified accomplice — under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including: 118(1) (causing grievous hurt voluntarily by dangerous weapons), 115(2) (causing hurt voluntarily); 74 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty), 351(2) (criminal intimidation); 191(3) (armed rioting); 190 (offences committed by unlawful assembly with common intention) Police investigations are in progress.
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