An additional sessions court in Punjab's Tarn Taran district on Wednesday convicted Manjinder Singh Lalpura, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Khadoor Sahib, and ten other individuals. The conviction is in connection with the molestation and assault of a woman in 2013.
The court of Additional Sessions Judge Prem Kumar is scheduled to announce the sentencing on September 12. Following the verdict, Lalpura and the co-accused were taken into custody and sent to the sub-jail in Patti. The complainant, a woman from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, was at a wedding venue with her family on March 3, 2013, when the incident happened. Lalpura and a number of Tarn Taran police officers were among the accused who allegedly assaulted her.
The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the case after the incident sparked widespread condemnation. The victim, her relatives, and her eyewitness cousin Jagjit Singh were all ordered to be protected by paramilitary forces by the court.
Section 354 (assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), Section 506 (criminal intimidation), and the SC/ST Act were among the sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) under which the case was filed.
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The other ten convicted individuals have been identified as:
- Police officers: Devinder Kumar, Saraj Singh, Ashwani Kumar, Tarsem Singh, Harjinder Singh, Narinderjit Singh, and Gurdeep Raj.
- Civilians: Harwinder Singh Shoshi, Kanwaldep Singh, and Gagandeep Singh (a driver).
One of the accused police officers, Paramjit Singh, passed away during the court proceedings. Following the conviction, the complainant expressed her satisfaction to reporters.
Manjinder Singh Lalpura was elected as the MLA from Khadoor Sahib in the 2022 Assembly elections, where he defeated Ramanjit Singh Sikki of the Congress party.
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