Punjab CM's daughter gets life threat from Khalistani elements

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal has appealed to the Indian embassy in US to ensure safety of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's daughter, who has reportedly received threat calls from pro-Khalistan elements.

Mann's daughter Seerat Kaur Mann received the threat calls amid protests by Khalistani protestors against crackdown on 'Waris Punjab De' chief and radical Khalistan activist Amritpal Singh Sandhu and his associates in Punjab.

Taking to micro-blogging Twitter, Swati Maliwal wrote: ''Read reports of Punjab CM Shri @BhagwantMann's daughter receiving death threats in the USA. It is an act of extreme cowardice. I appeal to the @IndianEmbassyUS to ensure her safety.''

According to reports, a Patiala-based lawyer Harmeet Brar revealed that Mann's daughter and family got a threat and abusive call from Khalistani supporters. "Will threatening and abusing children get you Khalistan?" Brar asked. "Are you going to get Khalistan this way by threatening and abusing children... Such people are a blot on Sikhism," Brar wrote on Facebook post.

Notably, Mann's ex-wife Inderpreet Kaur Grewal, who separated from Mann in 2015, has been living in Seattle with daughter Seerat, 21, and son Dilshan, 18.

Confirming about the threats, Seerat said that she and her brother had been receiving threats online, through the phone and even during meetings held in the gurdwara in the US. She reiterated that they were not involved in any decision-making of any politician in India, especially the CM of Punjab.

Seerat expressed her concerns about their safety and requested people to understand the situation and explain it to others, if needed.

Brar said Inderpreet told her about the abusive phone calls from pro-Khalistan elements, adding that some resolution has been passed in a gurdwara asking separatists to gherao Seerat and Dilshan over the ongoing crackdown in Punjab, reported The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, Amritpal Singh on Wednesday released a new video amid the news of his surrender. The Waris Punjab De chief was last traced in Punjab's Hosiyarpur. The purported video surfaced hours after his audio clip came out on social media in which he debunked speculations that he was negotiating his surrender.

"Those who feel that I have turned fugitive and I have left my associates, they should not keep this illusion in their mind. I do not fear death," he said in the video in Punjabi. "And soon will appear before the world and will also be amongst the 'Sangat'," he said.

Police have stepped up security in and around Amritsar and Bathinda amid reports that Amritpal Singh may surrender after entering any of the two Sikh shrines - Golden Temple in Amritsar and Takht Sri Damdama Sahib in Bathinda.

The pro-Khalistan preacher said he was not like those who would flee the country. "One has to face a lot during the days of rebellion... These days of rebellion are difficult to pass," he said. It was his second video since being on the run.