As Navjot Singh Sidhu took charge as Punjab PCC chief on Friday, thousands of party workers were seen flouting Covid rules in and outside the Punjab Congress Bhawan in Sector 15.
Reportedly, over 10,000 party workers, as well as senior Congress leaders have turned up at Congress Bhawan wearing no mask and no social distancing was followed. In fact, the UT administration confirmed that no prior permission had been obtained for the gathering, which was in violation of UT's enacted Section 144 of the CrPC.
As per UT’s Covid guidelines, only 200 people can participate in any function or 50 percent capacity of the building. Despite this, the Covid norms were violated on Friday (July 23) and Police personnel deployed to maintain law and order witnessed the violations as mute spectators.
However, later that day, Chandigarh Police filed an FIR under Section 188 of the IPC against unknown individuals at PS 11 for breaching Section 144 of the CrPC and Section 51B of the Disaster Management Act. The FIR does not name any of the persons.
“So far, the case has been brought against unnamed individuals. Ketan Bansal, the city's superintendent of police, stated, "We're screening the footage to identify the violators."
“We have filed an FIR under the relevant section,” DIG Omvir Bishnoi stated. “We're going over all of the evidence we've gathered.”
Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, a Punjab cabinet member who handled the event's preparations, said it was held after obtaining permission from the UT administration and that all senior police officials were there.
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However, Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Harjeet Singh Sidhu, who has jurisdiction over Sector 15, confirmed that “I have not received any application asking permission for any gathering at Punjab Congress Bhawan in Sector 15.”
“We detained several Haryana Congress workers who had assembled there without permission the day before (July 22). The UT Police Department might have more about today's event,” he added.
Residents, too, turned to social media to criticise the administration and police for allowing the severe violations to occur. One of the residents and social media users tweeted, “The Chandigarh administration should be ashamed. Now with which face can he impose restrictions on common people?"