Newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kangana Ranaut on Thursday alleged she was slapped and abused by a woman constable of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the Chandigarh airport before she boarded a flight to Delhi.

While officials did not comment on the motive of the alleged assault, Ranaut appeared to link it to “extremism and terrorism” in Punjab although a video of the suspect appeared to suggest she lashed out over the Mandi MP-elect’s stand on the farmers’ protest.

“I was hit on the face, abused. I am safe but concerned about terrorism in Punjab,” Ranaut said in a video uploaded to her handle on X at 6.14pm with the caption “Shocking rise in terror and violence in Punjab.”

The CISF constable, identified as Kulwinder Kaur, was immediately detained after the incident, and later suspended after Ranaut lodged a complaint with CISF officials on her arrival at the Indira Gandhi airport. The CISF was also in the process of filing a police complaint.

The incident occurred around 3pm at the security checkpoint ahead of Ranaut’s flight. While some reports suggested the confrontation occurred after Ranaut did not heed Kaur’s instructions to put her phone on the tray during the routine frisking, the BJP MP, in her video, alleged that the constable approached her from the side as she was waiting in the security check area, hit her and began hurling abuses at her, seemingly without any provocation. When Ranaut asked for the reason for her behaviour, Kaur allegedly told Ranaut that she was a supporter of the farmers protests.

“I am safe. I am perfectly fine. There was an incident at the Chandigarh airport during the security check. As I was leaving after completing security checking process, a woman CISF officer came from the side and hit me on the face. She began hurling abuses. When I asked her why she was doing this, she said she is a supporter of the farmers’ protest. I am safe but my question is how we end growing extremism and terrorism in Punjab,” Ranaut said in the video.

Airport authorities, on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Kaur was unhappy with the actor-turned-politician’s stand on the farmers’ protest when she said that the agitators were people paid to demonstrate.

Ranaut’s flight, Vistara’s UK707 to New Delhi at 3.30pm, was delayed, eventually departing at 4.10pm.

The BJP MP-elect was met by CISF officials from the airport and Delhi headquarters when she landed in the national capital, where she lodged an official complaint.

The force is yet to issue a statement. But an official aware of the development in Chandigarh said, “Constable Kaur was immediately detained after the incident. Kangana Ranaut proceeded to board her flight. Punjab police officials also reached the airport.”

Punjab police officers, including deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) KS Sandhu and HS Bal, checked the CCTV cameras and took the statements of the airport staff, said a police officer who asked not to be named.

Kaur was being questioned by the authoritiesat the airport, a CISF officer in Chandigarh said, adding that a probe had been launched.

A senior CISF officer in Chandigarh said they were also in the process of registering a First Information Report (FIR) against the constable.

“We have given a complaint at the local police station against the lady constable concerned. She has been suspended with immediate effect and an inquiry has been ordered into the matter,” the officer said.

Sandhu said that police are yet to register an FIR in the case.

Several videos from the aftermath of the incident were being widely shared on social media. In one video, Kaur can be heard defending herself to bystanders, questioning the kind of statements Ranaut made during the farmers’ protest.

“She said that women had taken ₹100 to sit at the protest. Did she sit there? My mother was among the women protesters in the sit-in when she gave that statement,” Kaur is heard saying in the video. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the clip. Kaur hails from Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district of Punjab and is a sister of farmer leader Sher Singh Malhiwal.

Between November 2020 and December 2021, thousands of farmers from food-bowl states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan held a sit-in protest at the three borders of the national capital to protest the three farm laws proposed by the central government to liberalise agricultural markets. The laws were later repealed.

Ranaut was on Tuesday was elected to Lok Sabha from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi constituency, defeating Congress’ heavyweight Vikramaditya Singh by a margin of over 74,000 votes.

Farmers leader Sarvan Singh Pandher, one of the leaders of a second farmer’s agitation in January, on Thursday criticised Ranaut for speaking against farmers and disrespecting their mothers. He also condemned police and CISF for detaining Kaur.

Terming the incident a serious matter, National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma called for serious action and said the panel had taken up the matter with the CISF.

Source: Hindustan Times
--Agencies