Booked for rape, Punjab MLA moves High Court

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LE Correspondent

Chandigarh, July 12, 2021: Days after being booked for raping a 45-year-old woman in Ludhiana, Punjab MLA and Lok Insaaf Party chief Simarjit Singh Bains on Monday move the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the FIR.

Hearing the plea, a bench of Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul issued notice to the complainant woman and the Punjab Police seeking their response. The matter will now be heard on July 15.

The woman had lodged a complaint against Bains eight months ago and had been protesting outside the office of the Commissioner of Police in Ludhiana for the past five months, seeking that a rape case be registered against the MLA who represents Ludhiana’s Atam Park constituency in the Punjab assembly.

The woman said she had come in contact with the MLA in a property dispute, following which she claimed she received repeated phone calls and WhatsApp messages soliciting physical relationship with her. She also alleged that she was raped repeatedly by Bains.

The case against Bains was finally registered at the division number 6 police station on Monday on the directions issued by the district court last week.

In his order on July 7, additional chief judicial magistrate Harsimranjit Singh said: “Extreme circumstances call for extreme measures. Extreme indeed, are the circumstances in this case at hand. The unsuspecting victim is a hapless woman stricken by adversity who was unabashedly exploited by the so-called saviour and his coterie. With the first responder, police agency having turned a blind eye to her hideous abuse, she knocked the door of the court.” 

He further stated, “The real cause of concern is whether a miserable and poor victim of sexual exploitation be expected to get justice by lodging the private complaint and collecting evidence from a place alien to her and against the perpetrators who are powerful and resourceful. In case the directions for registering of case is not made, the entire case of complainant would crumble and it would tantamount to failure of justice.”

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