The Shiromani Akali Dal Mullanpur Dakha constituency in-charge Jaskaran Singh Deol and three others were booked by police for allegedly abducting a 16-year-old rape complainant from a house in Birmi village on the eve of a hearing in Mohali court, where the Akali leader himself is an accused.
The hearing was scheduled for Tuesday. The police have arrested Deol’s aides, including Avtar Singh and Davinder Singh. Deol has not been arrested and is reportedly on the run. Subsequently, the Mohali court declared his arrest illegal and ordered his immediate release, observing that informing an accused about the grounds of arrest is a mandatory legal requirement. On his advice, the girl locked herself inside a room and called the police control room. The FIR further alleges that Harmandeep scuffled with the police personnel before forcibly taking the girl inside the house and bolting the doors.
Punjab Agricultural University police station SHO inspector Amritpal Singh said a case had been registered under Sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 140(3) (kidnapping) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. Deol was produced before the court on May 18.
“The police have arrested two accused, while a hunt is on for the remaining accused,” he said. The complainant alleged that the girl called him and told him that the accused were trying to forcibly take her away and had assaulted her.
The accused were produced before the court and remanded in two-day custody for questioning. Deol was arrested earlier this year after an FIR was registered at Mataur police station in Mohali on a complaint by the victim, who alleged rape and sexual harassment.
Sehajpreet Singh, a resident of Mandi Gobindgarh, the girl’s mother, Harmandeep Kaur, along with Avtar and Davinder, reached the house on the night of October 5 in a vehicle, according to the fresh FIR registered on the complaint victim’s maternal cousin.
