Moga: The family of the 14-year-old girl who died after being molested and thrown off a moving bus in Punjab, has alleged that the officials of the administration and the police were pressurising them to reach a compromise with the accused.
The private bus, in which the incident took place, is owned by the family of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The Chief Minister has called the incident “unfortunate”.
Today, the angry relatives held a protest at the Moga civil hospital, where the girl’s mother, who was also thrown off the bus, is still admitted.
The girl’s father said the police took him away from the protest site and made him sign some documents. “They said, ‘let us settle this. Sign a document and lead a good life’. I can’t read. I put my thumb impression on the document,” said the girl’s father.
He said he didn’t know the names of the policemen.
Questions are being raised on whether the police have been dragging their feet on the case.
The opposition Congress alleges that it took the police 15 hours to arrest four men – the bus driver, the conductor, a cleaner and their friend – owing to the Badal connection.
Mr Badal’s son and deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal have stakes in Orbit Aviation, the company that runs the bus.
The Union Home Ministry has asked for a report of the incident.
On Wednesday evening, the girl her brother and mother had taken the bus to go to a local gurudwara. But once inside, they were abused and groped by half-a-dozen men. As the passengers watched in silence, the bus crew had also allegedly joined in the harassment.
When they protested, the girl and her mother were thrown from the running bus. The girl sustained a fatal injury on her head and died. The 38-year-old mother is in hospital. The girl’s 10-year-old brother was dropped some way off, from where he walked till he found his mother and sister lying on the road.
