Former Punjab minister Jagir Kaur was Thursday granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court.
The high court directed Jagir Kaur, who is lodged in the Kapurthala jail, 200km from Chandigarh, not to leave the country without its permission during the bail period. Jagir Kaur, who was handling the rural water supply and sanitation and defence services portfolio, was forced to resign in March this year after a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in Patiala convicted and sentenced her to five years' rigorous imprisonment on counts of forcible abortion, wrongful confinement, abduction and criminal conspiracy.

The lone woman minister in the Parkash Singh Badal-led government, she was forced to resign within days of being sworn-in as a minister.

However, Jagir Kaur was cleared of the charge of murdering her daughter Harpreet Kaur, 19.

Harpreet had angered her mother and other family members by secretly marrying a youth, Kamaljit Singh, who belonged to a lower caste.

Harpreet had died under mysterious circumstances in April 2000.

Owing to her clout in the state, Jagir Kaur was allowed to be shifted from Patiala jail to Kapurthala, which is in her home district, and was initially enjoying VIP status from the moment she was arrested.

She later moved the high court against her conviction.

She was the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the mini-parliament of Sikh religious affairs, in 1999-2000.