Former minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia today appealed to Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Banwarilal Purohit to direct the Chandigarh Police to register a case against food and civil supplies minister Lalchand Kataruchak to ensure justice to the victim in the sexual misconduct complaint filed against the minister.
Talking to newsmen here, the SAD leader said he was making a request to the Chandigarh Administrator to act in the matter as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab was shielding the accused minister. “This is even more important as the Governor has raised this issue with the Punjab government repeatedly and called for action against Kataruchak”.
Mr Bikram Majithia said the Administrator’s action would be entirely justified as the complainant had submitted videographic evidence of the wrongdoing done unto him to the Administrator. “Moreover the Administrator had forwarded the videographic evidence to the Chandigarh Police which had conducted a forensic analysis on the same and found it to be genuine.
In such circumstances, seeing the Punjab government’s insistence on not proceeding against Kataruchak, it would be in the fitness of things to register a case against the minister in Chandigarh”. Mr Majithia also castigated SC representatives in the AAP government for remaining silent on the victimization of a scheduled caste by the minister.
He said it was shocking that the finance minister Harpal Cheema and other SC leaders of AAP remained quiet about the injustice done by Kataruchak but had got together to do a press conference against leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa for passing alleged anti-SC remarks.
Answering a media query, the senior SAD leader said it pained him that double standards had been adopted by the central government while adjudicating on the release of Bandi Singh Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana even as the Bilkis Bano rapist had been released prematurely. “Bhai Rajoana’s human rights are being violated by his continued incarceration”, he added.
Mr Majithia also spoke about the manner in which chief minister Bhagwant Mann was bad mouthing his opponents. “This is a new low in Punjab politics”, he said while asserting that such unsavory remarks vis a vis Ajit editor Dr Barjinder Singh Hamdard’s family did not behove a chief minister.
“It is even more condemnable that these disparaging remarks are being made by the chief minister against someone who is no more. These remarks however prove that the chief minister is frustrated that the Ajit newspaper continues to side with the truth and is not intimidated by his bullying tactics”.
Asking the chief minister to look within, Mr Majithia said the former was pleading with Congressmen and even leaders from other parties on a daily basis to lobby for his boss Arvind Kejriwal but was objecting to opposition parties for collecting on a single platform in favour of freedom of the press.