Gurjit Singh Sanghera, son of Avtar Henry

Jalandhar, September 20
Gurjit Singh Sanghera, son of Avtar Henry, a former Punjab minister, whose Indian citizenship has been ceased for possessing two passports, has accused the latter of ill-treating his first wife Surinder Kaur.

Sanghera said he was just 3 years old when his father Henry, a tranporter-turned-politician, brought him back to their native village Bilga in Jalandhar from England after dumping his mother Surinder Kaur.

“A cancer patient, my mother died a painful death in July this year. Her ashes were immersed in the Thames,” said Sanghera.

"He (Avtar) threw my mother out of the house and after returning to India in 1969, he married Harinder Kaur without giving divorce to his first wife. He has violated the Hindu Marriage Act,” claimed Sanghera.

"I was separated from my mother and was forced to live with my grandmother Bakhshish Kaur in Shankar village near Nurmahal in Jalandhar. My mother could not bear the setback and went into depression," Sanghera claimed.

“I am fighting this battle to get justice for my mother. I want her soul to rest in peace,” he said.

Sanghera said Henry paid no heed to the request of his in-laws to bring his wife back from England. “My mother had to put up at her relatives’ place. It was only on the directions of the British Council,

Henry started paying some maintenance amount to my mother,” claimed Gurjit Singh.

"My mother used to quietly write to me and even visited Jalandhar to meet me while I was pursuing my studies. Later, she called me to the UK in 1999 and I got a job of a gatekeeper there," said Gurjit Singh.

Sanghera said he would move an application before the Jalandhar Police Commissioner by Monday seeking compliance of the Ministry of Home Affairs orders and press for Henry’s arrest under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 494 of the IPC.

Complaints will also he made to the Chief Election Commission, the state election commission and the Regional Passport Officer, Jalandhar, seeking action against Henry for “fraudulently” contesting Punjab Assembly elections and posses-sing illegal passports, Sanghera claimed.

Sanghera, who had accused his father, Henry, of possessing dual citizenship through fake residential addresses and with misleading particulars, has expressed satisfaction over the Centre’s decision to cease the Congress leader’s Indian citizenship.