Jhota Murder: Punjab Agrees To Rs 2 Crore Compensation, Job For Slain Anti-Drug Activist’s Wife

Punjab has agreed to pay Rs 2 crore in compensation and give a government job to the wife of slain anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota, bringing a 22-day agitation over his murder to an end. The breakthrough followed a five-hour meeting in Mansa on Wednesday between Jhota’s family, joint action committee members and state representatives.

The deal prompted the action committee to put off its proposed gherao of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s residence on November 5. The government also agreed to pull back cases filed against protesters. Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian attended the meeting on behalf of the government. After the agreement, Jhota’s family gave consent for his post-mortem and cremation.

Negotiations And Concessions

The deal covered another family too. It included Rs 50 lakh in compensation and a government job for a relative of Daljit Singh of Bhamme Kalan, who died on October 27. The move on cases against protesters would also open the door for Lakha Sidhana and others in jail.

Hardeep Singh Sidhu, a joint action committee member, said the dispute was one of the main sticking points in the talks. The discussions ran for hours before both sides reached an agreement, after which the committee dropped its plan to protest outside the chief minister’s residence on November 5.

Jhota Killing Fallout

Jhota’s body has been kept at the Civil Hospital mortuary in Mansa since October 13. He was gunned down in daylight inside a medical store in a crowded Mansa market, and the killing set off protests by his family and several organisations.

Ashwani Kumar, the owner of the medical store, allegedly opened fire after Jhota questioned him for selling addictive drugs to an elderly man, according to PTI. Kumar was later taken into custody from Salasar in Rajasthan.

The incident happened while Jhota was hosting a Facebook Live session. His postmortem is expected to take place at PGIMER in Chandigarh, after which his body will be handed over to the family for the last rites.

Probe And Demands

The joint action committee, comprising various organisations and social activists, was formed after Jhota’s murder and has led the agitation since then. It had demanded compensation and a government job for Jhota’s wife, the release of arrested protesters and the withdrawal of cases against them.

The committee had also sought the resignations of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav over the incident. Those demands formed part of the wider political pressure around the case even as talks with the government continued.

Punjab had already sent the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation after Jhota’s family asked for it. It also suspended a station house officer, a deputy superintendent of police and a drug inspector in connection with the killing. Khudian met the family on Tuesday evening and became the first AAP leader to visit them and offer condolences after the death.