Over a dozen injured in group clash on Sirhind-Patiala highway

Patiala: A clash between two groups reportedly took place on Sirhind-Patiala highway on Friday evening. The video of the incident had gone viral over various social media groups.

In the video, over two dozen men are seen assaulting each other with sharp-edged weapons. According to the police, the clash took place over an old enmity.

The clash led to hours long traffic snarls.

It is to be noted that the police station was just two kilometres away from the spot where the two groups had landed in a clash. The police said that both the parties did not inform them about the incident or lodge any complaint with them. However, the father of one of the injured youth had alleged that police did not take any action despite being informed about the incident.

Gurpal Singh, a resident of Chulaila village in Patiala, said, “My son informed me that accused Manpreet and his friends had gheraoed him. When I reached the spot, my son was being thrashed by the accused who have links with the village sarpanch of ruling party. I tried to save my son but the rival group members attacked me. I immediately went to the nearby police station and asked for help but the police said they can’t help as they don’t have sufficient staff. The clash took place following an old rivalry as few days ago one of the villagers had been walking his dog in our area and the dog used to urinate on the wall of our house. I had raised objection on this due to which my son was attacked by around 20 armed men.”

He added, “The police even pressurized us to strike a compromise,” said Gurpal while claiming that commuters kept shooting the video of the clash but did not intervene to save his son. Station house officer Faggan Majra police station, Jaspreet Kaur, said, “The villagers had landed in a clash over a dispute that took place a few days ago. Following this, the parties had again landed in a clash following which some injured persons from both the sides were taken to the government Rajindra hospital. The matter was discussed before the village sarpanch and later both the group had compromised. We had gone to the hospital but the injured persons refused to record their statements.”