Hoshiarpur, April 1 -- Tension gripped Noorpur Jattan village in Hoshiarpur district after miscreants vandalised a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar on Tuesday morning. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, leader of the banned outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), released a video claiming responsibility for the act. The statue, installed atop a private building, was previously targeted in June 2025, after which it was encased in glass for protection. On Tuesday morning, it was found that vandals had smashed the glass casing and used hammers to damage the bust of the founder of the Constitution. In the video, Pannun termed the act a "referendum on Ambedkar", alleging that the Constitution drafted by him erased Sikh identity. He further warned of similar incidents between the Dalit icon's birth anniversary on April 14 and April 29, the date he claimed voter registration for a "Khalistan referendum" would begin. Garhshankar deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Daljit Singh Khakh said a fresh case has been registered against Pannun and unidentified persons. Police said no CCTV cameras were installed there, but their teams are examining CCTV footage from nearby areas. He said the statue stands on land with contested ownership. "The owners must resolve their dispute as the police cannot protect the site indefinitely," the DSP said. As news of the vandalism spread, members of various Dalit organisations gathered at the spot to protest. Senior police officials reached the village to pacify the agitators. Punjab Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Avtar Singh Karimpuri served a 72-hour ultimatum to the state government to arrest the culprits, threatening a state-wide agitation if the police failed to act. Karimpuri asserted that the acts are part of a larger political conspiracy to disturb social harmony. Punjab's Dalit population stands at nearly 32%, and the Doaba belt (Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar) is the heartland of their political and social assertion....