Ashwani Kumar expresses concern over attack on Punjab Police Intel HQ, asks Centre, state govt to coordinate

Former law minister Ashwani Kumar on Tuesday expressed deep concern over the explosion inside the Punjab Police's Intelligence office in Mohali and said it cannot be ignored.

Speaking to ANI, Kumar said that the Centre and Punjab government should coordinate on this serious issue.

"First, we saw Pakistani drone in Punjab then saw RDX recovered from Tarantaran and Punjab being a border state has suffered terrorism for a very long time so I am worried and this is a matter of big concern and it cannot be ignored," the former Congress leader said.

"I would like to say that Punjab and the Central Governments should coordinate on this serious issue and if the increasing terrorist activities visible, then the Central and the State Government together should control it," he said.

On Monday night, a minor blast occurred outside the Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters in Mohali. There was no casualty or loss of life but police said it has not ruled out a terror angle in the incident, in which they say that the attack took place from outside the building with a rocket-propelled grenade.

"A minor explosion was reported at the Punjab Police Intelligence headquarters in sector 77, SAS Nagar at around 7:45 pm. No damage has been reported. Senior officers are on the spot and an investigation is being done," Mohali police had said on Monday.

Kumar also welcomed the Central government's decision to re-examine the provision of sedition law.

"I think this is a very good move by the government. There is no justification for the sedition law in a free country and the way it has been misused in the last few months. We believe that there are so many draconian and stringent laws which were made during the British times to suppress our freedom movement and it is very important to repeal such laws and it will be according to the spirit of our Constitution."

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to inform it by Wednesday whether the registration of future sedition cases can be kept in abeyance till it completes the reconsideration process with respect to the sedition law.

A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli also asked the Central government what it proposes to do about pending and future sedition cases as the Centre decided to re-examine the validity of Section 124A of the IPC, which criminalises the offence of sedition.

( With inputs from ANI )

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