Know what was the whole 12-year-old case in which 11 people including the MLA were convicted. The court will now pronounce the sentence on September 12.
New Delhi: The troubles of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab are not decreasing. On Wednesday, a local court convicted Khadoor Sahib AAP MLA Maninder Singh Lalpura and 10 others in a 12-year-old molestation and assault case. Additional Sessions Judge Prem Kumar will announce the sentence in this case on September 12. Immediately after the court’s decision, MLA Lalpura and other present convicts were taken into custody by the police and sent to Patti sub-jail.
The matter becomes more serious when it is learned that Lalpura is the fifth AAP MLA to be arrested by the police or the Vigilance Bureau in Punjab. His arrest comes just days after a rape case was registered against Sanaur MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, who has been absconding since September 2.
Under which sections were they convicted?
The victim’s lawyer Amit Dhawan said, “MLA Lalpura and other accused have been convicted under sections 354 (assault with intent to outrage the modesty of a woman), 148 (rioting while armed with a deadly weapon) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as section 4 of the SC/ST Act.”
He further said that out of the total accused, seven people—Lalpura, Saraj Singh, Davinder Kumar, Kanwaldeep Singh, Ashwani Kumar, Tarsem Singh and Harjinder Singh—were present in the court and were immediately taken into custody. Gagandeep Singh, Narinderjit Singh and Gurdeep Raj are yet to be arrested. Another accused Harvinder Singh Sushi is already lodged in Tihar Jail.
‘Justice was done, now expect strict punishment’ – Victim
After this decision, the victim expressed happiness and said, “Today I am very happy because justice has finally won. I fought a long battle for this and during this time I also received death threats from the culprits. I hope that the court will give the harshest punishment to the culprits.” What was the 12-year-old case? This incident is of March 3, 2013. The victim, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, had come with her family to attend a wedding ceremony at a marriage palace located on Goindwal Road. It is alleged that during this time Lalpura and other accused including some personnel of Tarn Taran Police assaulted and molested her. According to the victim’s lawyer, Maninder Singh Lalpura was a taxi driver at that time. The case was so serious that the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of it and directed to provide paramilitary security to the victim, her cousin (who was an eyewitness) and their family. Lalpura defeated Congress’ Ramanjit Singh Sikki from Khadoor Sahib seat by a huge margin of 16,491 votes in the 2022 assembly elections.
Opposition cornered AAP government
After this verdict, opposition parties have targeted the ruling AAP government. Leader of Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa said, “An AAP leader being convicted in a molestation and assault case shows a disturbing pattern. Repeatedly, such serious allegations have been leveled against AAP leaders, which shows the open tolerance of the AAP leadership towards unethical and criminal behavior.”
Shiromani Akali Dal vice-president and former Khadoor Sahib MLA Ravinder Singh Brahmpura said that Lalpura’s conviction exposes the “true criminal character” of the AAP government. He said, “This verdict has removed the mask of AAP’s ‘hardcore honesty’. After being found guilty of torturing a Dalit family, Lalpura has lost the moral right to sit in the Assembly.”
Rajan Chaudhary
Courtesy: Hindi News