Desperate father's plea works, Punjab orders inquiry on Yannick case

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has ordered a probe into the case of a student from Burundi in Africa, who was stoned and brutally beaten in Jalandhar. He has been in coma for almost three months in a hospital in Patiala.

"I hadn't heard of this. I did not get any letter and I will investigate the matter. Everyone will get justice," Mr Badal said today.

The External Affairs Ministry has also taken up the case; its officials today met with the envoy of Burundi, who has promised legal help to the family of the student, and told him that they will study the case.

Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has also asked for an explanation why the state officials did not respond to the two letters that were sent by the student's father Nestor Ntibateganya asking for help.

The Deputy Chief Minister has said that no one will be spared, and has asked Chief Secretary of Punjab to meet the father and see how the government can help him.

"I don't know how after sending 2 letters he only wakes up now. But now that he has, it is good," Mr Ntibateganya responded.

Yannick Nihangaza, 23, was walking to a party in Jalandhar on April 22 when he was stoned, severely beaten and left on the roadside. Strangers took him to hospital. Yannick was enrolled as a student of B.Sc. Computers, First Year, at the Lovely Professional University.

Two people have been arrested by the Jalandhar Police; there are others who are missing.

On June 25, Yannick's father Nestor Ntibateganya wrote to the Chief Minister of Punjab, describing the condition of his son, who lies in a coma in a hospital in Patiala. "I am writing to you as a father writing to another father, someone who has known and experienced love of a child," the man from Burundi wrote.

However, until yesterday when NDTV aired the story, there had been no response from the Punjab government.