DC and a mother of an 11-month-old reached home at 3am with torn clothes and injuries
When we talk of the violence that shook Panchkula to its roots on Aug 25 we recall outraged thousands of rampaging dera followers, a criminal pronounced guilty after 14 years, 250 injured, the burnt vehicles and buildings worth crores, 32 dead and the police that fled at the need of the hour. We also come across the unusual silence of the Khattar government who couldn’t take charge of the situation and the army had to be called in. Right there, just when Khattar and the police was shivering themselves, this woman came as a warrior and saved Panchkula from bloodshed, property loss and disturbance any further. Stepping in the ground of brain washed followers who were humungous in number with absolute no ambition but destruction, we salute none other than the Deputy Commissioner Gauri Parasher Joshi. The journalist turned bureaucrat Deputy Commissioner Gauri Parasher Joshi stepped in just when everyone fled, leaving the young woman of an 11 month old child by herself with torn clothes and injuries. During the ensuing violence and arson, left with a single PSO, she took charge of the situation by deciding to go to her office and issue an order to hand over the situation to the Army, which helped avoid further deterioration of the situation. In the chaotic situation, she came back to the battle ground “It was the concern for the city, which was on the boil, that remained uppermost in my mind,” said the bureaucrat. She went around every nook and corner of the city and reached home at 3 am. “When I reached home in the wee hours, the family was shocked to see my blood-soaked clothes”, an English Literature postgraduate from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College. “She, however, still refused to go to hospital, saying that the hospital resources were too stretched and did not want to dislocate their work for her relatively less serious injury,” said IAS officer Ajit Balaji Joshi, who is the Deputy Commissioner in Chandigarh. The Jat agitation violence of 2016 could have been re visited had this brave woman not taken charge of the situation. We salute the power and courage of the young woman. -PTC News
