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.
In a statement here, the Chief Minister said the drug trade which had flourished during the previous Akali-BJP and the Congress regime had ruined the future generations of the state.
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While denying him bail, Judge Nagpal had said that Sisodia can, prima facie, be held to be the "architect of the criminal conspiracy". He observed that the payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore was meant for him and his other colleagues in the AAP government.
During his campaign, Gandhi stated that "all thieves have Modi surname", equating Prime Minister Narendra Modi with fugitives like Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi. On March 23, a lower court in Surat found him guilty of defaming the entire Modi community in a case filed by BJP MLA Purnesh Modi.
A Delhi Police official said that one of the buyers was a liquor mafia group led by Sumit Anangpur from Faridabad, which purchased stolen luxury cars worth around Rs 20 lakh each, for just Rs 3-4 lakh and used them to hoodwink the agencies to transport foreign liquor to Bihar.
Last week, the country had seen a surge with 18,450 fresh cases, a substantial rise from the previous week's 8,781 cases. The Omicron variant XBB.1.16 is believed to be behind the sudden surge of the cases.
