Chandigarh: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Punjab chief secretary and police chief over a complaint of a demand of Rs five crore for the suppression of a rape case. The allegations involve Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s wife Gurpreet Kaur, the NHRC said, triggering a political storm in Punjab.
NHRC member Priyank Kanoongo told ANI that the Commission has informed the Union home ministry about the allegations. “This is a very serious matter,” Kanoongo added.
In the notice, the Commission said it received a complaint Friday from Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) noting Ranjit Singh, a retired high court judge, publicly mention that a “demand of Rs 5 crore was made in connection with the rape case, allegedly involving the wife of the chief minister”.
While the FIR in the abduction and rape case was registered 29 April in Amritsar, the girl was rescued 1 May. The accused, a Mohali resident, was arrested 13 May.
The LRO, the NHRC notice said, sought independent verification given “the seriousness of the allegation and its potential implications for the administration of criminal justice”.
On his part, Ranjit Singh, in a Chandigarh press conference on Tuesday, said that the father of the girl filed a petition in the High Court urging that the case should be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as it was not being investigated satisfactorily.
“It is alleged in the petition that the chief minister’s wife was involved in seeking Rs 5 crore from the accused for cancellation of the FIR. I am not saying this from my side. This is mentioned in the petition,” he said, adding that certain evidentiary material was submitted to the court by the petitioner.
The retired judge, who heads the NGO Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), highlighted another petition, filed by an Army unit, against a real estate developer allegedly constructing a hotel in Amritsar in an area demarcated as a no-construction zone.
A relative of the CM was protecting the builder, he alleged, demanding the Punjab government to take cognizance of the two petitions and take appropriate action.
The CM’s wife is reported to have issued a notice to the retired judge asking him to respond within 24 hours, failing which legal action will be taken against him. Justice Singh told ThePrint that he had not received any notice as yet but will reply to it in case he does.
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What petition says
The petition in question was filed 30 June by a 55-year-old man alleging that Gurinder Singh alias Guri Chahal, a resident of Mohali, had abducted and raped his daughter whom he had promised to marry.
Chahal, he alleged, had access to his daughter’s private pictures and was blackmailing her.
The petition, a copy of which was shared by the complainant’s advocate Saurabh Arora to ThePrint, states that although Chahal was arrested, the police did not conduct a fair inquiry following which he was let off from jail.
Other respondents marked in the petition are Simranjit Singh Hundal, a friend of Chahal, and Amardeep Singh Grewal, a ‘proclaimed relative’ of the CM’s wife.
In the petition, the father said the respondents were pressuring the Amritsar police to hush up the matter. He also mentioned that Hundal himself had on 9 June moved a petition on Chahal’s behalf in the HC alleging that Grewal was demanding crores to hush up the ‘false’ case of rape on account of his claimed closeness to the CM’s wife.
Hundal’s petition, a copy of which is attached with the petition filed by the father, sought protection of life and liberty from the court.
It also sought preservation of electronic material relating to “serious allegations of extortion, criminal intimidation, abuse of political influence and official machinery”.
Hundal submitted that apart from Amritsar, a similar case was registered against Chahal in Mohali. Grewal was in the business of getting false rape FIRs registered and then extract money to hush them up using his connections, he alleged in his petition.
A complaint to the Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) on 24 May elicited no action, he added.
Allegations & counter allegations
That said, the Punjab and Haryana High Court disposed off the father’s petition on 20 July and ordered that the investigation be transferred to the Special Director General of Police.
“The Special Director General of Police shall nominate a senior gazetted police officer, who has not been associated with the investigation of the present case at any stage earlier, to conduct the investigation under her overall supervision,” Justice Mandeep Pannu of the HC ordered.
In the order, the judge took note of allegations and counter allegations put forth by two sides.
The court noted that Hundal, arrayed as a respondent in the petition filed by the victim’s father, had in his petition before the HC also alleged that Amardeep Singh Grewal, was closely connected with the CM’s wife and that efforts were being made to secure cancellation of the FIR.
“The petition further alleges that Hundal himself claimed that a demand of ₹5 crores had been made by the wife of the Chief Minister for getting the FIR cancelled, and copies of the said writ petition, photographs of meetings and transcripts of conversations have been relied upon by the petitioners in support of such allegations,” reads Justice Pannu’s order.
Noting the counter arguments, the judge said that the state counsel opposed the petition and submitted that the investigation was still underway.
The state counsel pointed out that the girl and Chahal were in a live-in relationship and that the allegations primarily arose out of an unfulfilled promise of marriage, the judge added.
“It is contended that the allegations levelled by the petitioners regarding political pressure, interference in investigation, threats, coercion and attempts to secure cancellation of the FIR are false, baseless and devoid of merit,” the order read.
Investigation transferred
After taking into consideration the allegations and the counter allegations, Justice Pannu wrote in her order, “The allegations levelled in the present petition are undoubtedly serious in nature. The petitioners have expressed a specific apprehension that they would not receive a fair, impartial and independent investigation at the hands of the local police.”
The HC further noted that the significance of Hundal’s petition against Grewal at this stage did not lie in the correctness of the allegations made but the fact that the allegations regarding the “alleged intervention of the wife of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, the alleged demand of a substantial amount running into Rs 4-5 crore for securing cancellation of the FIRs,” found a mention in the pleadings of not just the victim’s father” petition but that of one of the respondents as well.
Justice Pannu asserted that the court was not, at this stage, determining whether these allegations were true.
“However, it cannot be overlooked that such allegations, coupled with the fact that respondent No.6 (Hundal) admittedly claims to be pursuing the litigation on behalf of respondent No.5, (Chahal) have created a genuine apprehension in the minds of the petitioners regarding the fairness of the investigation.”
Though, the allegations have been stoutly denied, the judge said, this was not an ordinary case as it raised questions about the impartiality of the investigation and possible outside influence. Since the probe was underway and no final or cancellation report was prepared, Justice Pannu said, there was no need to decide which of the competing claims was true at this stage.
Transferring a probe to the CBI was an extraordinary step that should be ordered only in exceptional cases, the judge said. Mere allegations against the police were not enough to justify a CBI probe.
At the same time, the HC stressed that both the victim and the accused must have confidence in the fairness of the criminal justice system.
The judge said that if there is a reasonable fear that an investigation may not be fair or impartial, the court can ensure that it is done by an independent officer.
In this case, Justice Pannu said, the court found no need to hand over the probe to the CBI. Instead, the judge directed that the investigation be entrusted to a senior police officer with no connection to the case and supervised by a senior state-level police officer to ensure a fair and credible probe.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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