B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

specially-abled Minor girl’s rape
Life term for accused
Barnala, January 24
In a case related to the rape of a minor deaf and dumb girl over eight years ago, the additional sessions judge, Barnala, BS Sandhu today awarded life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 20,000 to the accused, Narinder Kumar, a local resident, under different sections of the IPC.

Two youths held for molesting girl in bus
Faridkot, January 24
A day after some youths tried to molest a 20-year-old Dalit girl in a bus in the Gidderbaha area of Muktsar district, and assaulted the bus driver and the conductor as they tried to rescue the girl, the police has arrested the two culprits this evening.

Protest held for release of linemen
Faridkot, January 24
About two weeks after they were arrested by the police for tearing the uniforms of cops and preventing the police from performing its duty, 24 women, two children and 31 unemployed linesmen are still lodged in Faridkot Central Jail.

specially-abled Minor girl’s rape
Life term for accused
Tribune News Service

Barnala, January 24
In a case related to the rape of a minor deaf and dumb girl over eight years ago, the additional sessions judge, Barnala, BS Sandhu today awarded life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 20,000 to the accused, Narinder Kumar, a local resident, under different sections of the IPC.

Narinder was awarded seven years in imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 each under Sections 366 and 366-A of the IPC while he was awarded life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 under Section 376 (2) G of the IPC.

It is learnt that on September 5, 2004, on the complaint of the victim’s mother, a case was registered at the local police station under Sections 366, 376 and 120-B of the IPC. Those booked included Narinder Kumar and five of his family members.

The complainant had stated that Narinder Kumar had been raping her 14-year-old daughter in connivance with his family members due to which her daughter had become pregnant.

Five persons were acquitted in 2009 by the court while Narinder Kumar, who was earlier declared as proclaimed offender, was awarded life imprisonment today.

Two youths held for molesting girl in bus

Faridkot, January 24
A day after some youths tried to molest a 20-year-old Dalit girl in a bus in the Gidderbaha area of Muktsar district, and assaulted the bus driver and the conductor as they tried to rescue the girl, the police has arrested the two culprits this evening.

Those arrested have been identified as Harpreet Singh alias Happy and Parambir Singh of Bhutti Wala village in Gidderbaha. The search for the third accused, Daljit Singh alias Babbu is on, said Gidderbaha DSP Darshan Singh Sandhu.

Though yesterday the police had registered a criminal case against five youths, only three of them have been identified during the investigation by the DSP so far.

The incident took place on Wednesday evening when the girl was returning to her village Surewala from Muktsar in a bus and two youths started harassing her. The girl resisted their advances and slapped one of them following which the two youths pounced on her in the presence of a large number of passengers. The bus driver and the conductor tried to check the unruly behaviour of the youths when the girl cried for help. Meanwhile, the youths called up some of their friends on their cell phones and asked them to waylay the bus.

The bus had not covered much distance when some friends of the youths blocked the road and stopped the bus. The youths then allegedly assaulted the bus conductor and the driver while most of the bus passengers remained mute spectators.

On the complaint of the victim and the bus operator, the police booked five persons under Sections 354, 294, 341, 323, 148 and 149 of the IPC and Sections 3, 4 of the SC/ST Act.

A member of the Punjab State SC Commission, Dalip Singh Pandhi, today sought quick justice for the 20-year-old girl. He said the SC Commission took a suo moto notice of the incident. — TNS

Protest held for release of linemen

Faridkot, January 24
About two weeks after they were arrested by the police for tearing the uniforms of cops and preventing the police from performing its duty, 24 women, two children and 31 unemployed linesmen are still lodged in Faridkot Central Jail.

The arrests were made by the Muktsar police on January 13 when a large number of unemployed linemen protested at the venue of Akali Dal’s political conference in Muktsar to raise their demand for employment.

The protesters were accompanied by their family members, who were among those arrested and sent to the Central Jail here.

“As all our pleas failed to move the state government, so we began protesting along with our family members. My mother Sukhdev Kaur is also in jail,” said Harpreet Madak, district president of the Unemployed Lineman Union, Faridkot.

Two children, 18-month-old Shivraj Singh and Harsirat Kaur (5) are also lodged in the jail along with their mothers. Harsirat’s father is also in jail.

Demanding the unconditional release of those arrested and jobs for them, hundreds of linemen today staged a protest in front of the residence of Mantar Brar, SAD (B) MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary, in Kotkapura town of Faridkot.

Over two years ago, a process to fill 5,000 vacant posts of linemen was started in Punjab and over 1,000 candidates were issued appointment letters. But the appointment of the other 4,000 was still pending, said Harpreet Singh. — TNS