Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has ordered the withdrawal of an attempt to murder case against protesters for dumping cow dung outside a BJP leader's house. But, he justified the charges against singer Shree Brar who has been accused of promoting gun culture through a song of his.
Mr Singh clarified that the song had nothing to do with the ongoing protest by farmers against centre's three agriculture laws.
"Promoting gangsterism and gun culture is absolutely wrong," he said, adding that the police was correct in acting against the singer who recently courted controversy over the lyrics of an old song.
The song was confused with a more recent one Shree Brar had released in support of the protesting farmers.
Mr Singh noted that Punjab was vulnerable to cross-border threats and said "we will not allow peace to be disturbed" with songs encouraging youth to pick up guns.
The clarification comes amid accusations of inaction against the Punjab Chief Minister, who finds himself in a Catch 22-like situation with the increasing cases of attacks on BJP leaders and Reliance Jio's mobile towers in the agriculture-centric state.
"There was no attempt to murder, the officer went overboard," Mr Singh said transferring the police officer responsible for using the stringent section in the January 1 incident.
A group of protestors had unloaded a trolley full of cow dung in front of former Punjab minister Tikshan Sud's residence in Hoshiarpur.
Use of the tough section in the case -- filed on the basis of a complaint by a district-level leader of the BJP who said the protestors tried to run over Mr Sud -- had invited strong reaction from farmers.
A farmers' union had demanded the case's withdrawal failing which they threatened to block streets in Jalandhar on Thursday.
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