New Delhi February 1
The Supreme Court today issued notices to former SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur and the CBI, taking cognisance of a petition seeking the cancellation of her bail in her daughter Harpreet Kaur’s mysterious death case in which she is a key accused and facing trial.
A Bench of Justices Ashok Bhan and Dalveer Bhandari issued notices to Bibi Jagir Kaur and the CBI on a petition by Kanwaljit Singh, whom Harpreet had married secretly in 1999 at a gurdwara in Chandigarh to which Bibi Jagir Kaur had strong objection.
The court directed both Bibi Jagir Kaur and the CBI to submit their replies to the special leave petition (SLP) of Kanwaljit Singh. He moved the SLP after his petition for the cancellation of her bail was rejected by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on May 31, 2007.
Kanwaljit’s counsel Nidesh Gupta said there were strong reasons for “cancelling” the bail of Bibi Jagir Kaur as he alleged that she was “influencing” the witnesses. This was evident from the fact that several of them had turned hostile while recording their statements in the trial court, he argued.
Harpreet had died on April 21, 2000, after her pregnancy was terminated forcibly allegedly at the behest of Bibi Jagir Kaur, Gupta told the apex court. He contended that she was the key accused in the case and “wielded a lot of political clout” to influence the witnesses.
Gupta also took exception to the high court’s observation that even if some witnesses had turned hostile, the trial court could still take their statements into account.
