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.
A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's office said this landmark decision is aimed at encouraging the staff of the premier veterinary university to discharge their duties efficiently. This will help the teaching and non-teaching staff make concerted efforts to transform the destiny of farmers on one hand and make Punjab the frontrunner state on the other.
The matter came to light on April 18, when a complaint was lodged at Hauz Khas police station by a resident of Haridwar regarding cheating wherein the complainant stated that on March 21, he came to AIIMS hospital for treatment of his daughter and met a woman wearing coat showing her to be a junior resident.
In Sadulshahar, the NIA team is interrogating a few people connected to the gangsters. Those detained are being interrogated in closed rooms. The team has also reached the house of history-sheeter Vikram Laden - on the list of most wanted criminals - in Behror (Alwar).
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the US on June 22, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be visiting the country for a week at the end of this month during which he will attend several programmes. According to party sources, Rahul Gandhi is slated leave for the US on May 30 or 31 and will visit California, Washington and New York.
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Tuesday arrested Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, the former MLA from Faridkot, for possession of assets disproportionate to known sources of income. A spokesperson for the bureau said a corruption case has been registered him along with Gursewak Singh and Rajwinder Singh.
The CBI has alleged in its FIR filed against former Mumbai Zone Narcotics Control Bureau head Sameer Wankhede in the Aryan Khan drug seizure case, that the latter concealed information regarding his foreign trips and buying expensive watches. The FIR has been accessed by IANS in which the CBI has made shocking allegations.
