Sexual exploitation charges on minister: SAD seeks probe against Punjab govt for 'intimidating victim
Darpan News Desk IANS, 13 Jun, 2023 11:29 AM
Chandigarh, June 13 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Tuesday urged Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit to order an inquiry against the Punjab government and others who had intimidated the victim who had accused Cabinet minister Lalchand Kataruchak of sexually exploiting him and forced him to retract his statement.
In a statement here, Majithia said while he had earlier requested the Governor and UT Administrator to order Chandigarh Police to register a case against Kataruchak, now it had become pertinent to probe the sequence of events whereby the victim was forced to withdraw his accusations against the minister.
"It seems Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's earlier statement that all SITs were 'besitte' (without any meaning) was true. It is now clear the SIT was formed to give a clean chit to the minister and that it also caused the victim to retract his allegations."
Urging the Governor to act to save values in civil society, Majithia said "it is shocking that a predator has been given a clean chit by the state. This puts civil society to risk."
Besides urging the Governor to take appropriate steps to ensure justice for the Dalit youth who had been sexually exploited on the promise of a job, he also urged all political parties to unite on this issue and boycott and protest against the minister.
Asserting that the Chief Minister's love for Kataruchak had come in the way of taking action against him, Majithia said it was condemnable that that the Chief Minister had not sacked Kataruchak despite specific advise to do so by the constitutional head of the state.
Majithia also condemned collapse of law and order in the state, asserting recent Rs 8 crore heist in Ludhiana, murder of a jeweller in Moga and dacoity in Amritsar proved the Chief Minister had totally failed as Home Minister.
Also in attendance were Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. On December 13, 2001, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists had attacked the Parliament complex, in which nine persons including police and security personnel were killed.
A 48-year-old man, absconding for the past 10 years in a case of rash driving and endangering people's life, has been nabbed by Delhi Police in South Delhi's Saket area, an official said on Tuesday. The accused has been identified as Shyam Kumar Awasthi, a resident of village Mahgaura near Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh.
A senior police official said that they received a complaint in this respect from a 62-year-old woman that an unknown person sent her friend request. Later, the person shared one international WhatsApp number for chatting. After few days, the same person offered her valuable gifts like an Iphone, gold plated wrist watch etc.
Four of the accused in the case -- Faizal Abdul, Vasif Chaudhary, Sagar Pal and Aniket Sindhe-- were arrested on Monday on the information provided by Mubarak Badia and Chandan, who were arrested for possessing drugs worth Rs 3.97 crore from Surat in November.
In a letter, he apprised the Governor that post of Senior Superintendent of Police in Chandigarh has traditionally been occupied by a Punjab-cadre IPS oficer, while an IAS officer of Haryana cadre had been appointed as the Deputy Commissioner.
The accused is Sunny Dilip Lal Sharma alias Manav Govind. While he had secured an identity in the name of Manav Govind to smuggle gold this time, it was revealed that he had been using six different identities. The DRI team recovered 862 grams of gold worth Rs 46 lakh from him. He was later handed over to the Gomti Nagar police.
