Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], September 3 : A high-level delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), led by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, met Punjab Governor Gulab Singh Kataria at Lok Bhawan in Chandigarh on Thursday and demanded a high-level CBI inquiry into alleged corruption in the Chief Minister's Office and alleged attempts to protect a rape accused.
The SAD's demand comes amid a notice issued last month by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's wife, Gurpreet Kaur, following allegations that Rs 5 crore was allegedly demanded and accepted to shield an accused in a rape case.
The delegation, comprising Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, Bikram Singh Majithia, Daljit Singh Cheema and Sikandar Singh Maluka, submitted a 300-page dossier along with other documents and evidence to the Governor in support of its allegations.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that the state government was attempting to protect a rape accused and urged the media to highlight the issue.
"On one side is the rapist and those protecting him, and on the other side are those helpless girls. I want to see which side the media takes. If you do not show our press conference or highlight this issue, it means you are under the pressure of the Punjab government and supporting the rapist. I hope the media will stand with those helpless girls," Badal said.
"We have submitted all the evidence to the Governor," he added.
SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said the dossier submitted to the Governor contained details of what he termed serious issues concerning a rape survivor and her family.
"We have submitted a 300-page dossier to the Honourable Governor. The issues are very serious -- about the rape victim survivor, her ordeal, her family and what trauma they are going through. It is about how a rape accused is being helped by the Chief Minister. There are certain black sheep whose names have been mentioned. I have released an audio clip. There is a cancellation report. How can a cancellation report in a rape case be filed by the police when there is a Section 164 statement in front of the judge?," Majithia alleged.
"The accused should have come out after the trial if he was innocent. There is no rule under the law where he could come out till two months. So money changed hands, and that is why," Majithia added.
He further alleged that similar cancellation reports were filed in Mohali and Amritsar.
"The same modus operandi has been followed in Mohali and Amritsar. In both reports, the same modus operandi has been followed that the family hasn't come. The family is being pressurised not to come. Nobody is listening to the family," Majithia alleged.
"The family is in the High Court saying that nobody is listening to us," he added.
Majithia also named several police officers while alleging that they were acting under political pressure.
"And who are the officers? The same officers who were there during the Prime Minister's security breach -- SSP Hans, DIG Nanak Singh, DIG/IG Gurpreet Bhullar, Swapan Sharma. All those officers who are supposed to implement the law, but are acting as stooges, tools of Bhagwant Mann and Gurpreet Kaur to save the rape accused," he alleged.
"We have put all these documents in front of the Governor. No government is above the High Court, no government is above the Supreme Court," Majithia said.
"Supreme Court orders are very clear that once ED writes a letter, register a case," he added.