The court of Additional Sessions of Jalandhar city, Punjab has sentenced 5 people including the Municipal Corporation councillor from Congress Mandeep Kumar Jassal to 5 years in the Johal Hospital vandalism case. This decision comes around 12-13 years after the violence that took place due to the killing of Sant Ramanand. This case days back to the 25th May 2009 riots when Sant Ramanand of Dera Sachkhand Ballan was killed in Vienna, Austria.
The killing incident in Austria led to unrest in the whole of Jalandhar created by the Ravidas community. During these riots, around 19 coaches of Jammu Tawi Express were set on fire and about 12 police officials got injured in the attack. During this, various buses, building, hospitals, etc were also vandalized while some were burnt to express the anger of the community over the killing.
In this specific incident group of miscreants gathered in Rama Mandi, assaulted the policemen after which they even ransacked the Johal Hospital. The miscreants took out machines and set them on fire. Due to vandalism, the hospital had to incur a loss of Rs. 70,000. DR. BS Johal along with his family at that time escaped from the scene with great difficulty. Till date, Dr. BS Johal along with his lawyer have been fighting the case in order to get justice. Dr.BS Johal alleged that Mandeep Kumar Jassal led the mob which included Gulzara Singh, Bal Mukan Billa, Shingara Ram, Rajeshwar, Kishan Pal Mintu and Jagtar Singh, alias Sonu.
Reportedly, all 5 accused have been sent to judicial custody under Sections 323, 324, 435, 427, 148, 149 and 395 of the IPC. The sessions court has directed all accused to pay up the compensation of Rs 10,000 to all those who got injured and Rs 35,000 to those whose bikes had got damaged.