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Ludhiana: 2 Punjab Roadways officials booked for thrashing, molesting woman
The local police on Sunday registered a case against two sub-inspectors of Punjab Roadways for allegedly molesting and thrashing a woman at the bus stand in broad daylight, officials said.
Strap: Case registered after video of incident surfaces online; cops say incident happened in March 2023
The local police on Sunday registered a case against two sub-inspectors of Punjab Roadways for allegedly molesting and thrashing a woman at the bus stand in broad daylight, officials said.
The first-information report (FIR) against Amarjit Singh and Jagwinder Singh, both posted as sub-inspectors with Punjab Roadways, was registered after a purported video of the incident surfaced online and did the rounds on social media platforms.
According to police investigation, the incident happened in March last year.
The accused, booked under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), are yet to be arrested.
In the purported video shot at the Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar Interstate Bus Terminal, the accused can be seen thrashing the unidentified woman while she urged them to let her go. The woman’s t-shirt was also torn in the incident.
HT could not independently veracity the veracity of the video.
Bus stand police post in-charge assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Amarjeet Singh said that someone sent them the video of the incident via WhatsApp. He added that in the video, the woman was seen roaming around near bus counters when the accused stopped her and thrashed her for no apparent reason.
He said that in the purported video, the woman could be seen requesting the accused to leave her and asking onlookers to help. However, no one turned up to help her.
“After investigation, we found that the incident occurred on March 23, 2023. Following the orders of the senior officials, we registered a case against the Punjab Roadways sub-inspectors,” said the ASI.
“The accused have been booked and a hunt is on to arrest them. The police are trying to trace the woman to ascertain the reason,” he added.
A complaint was also filed in connection with the matter with the Punjab Human Rights Commission on July 27, 2023. The complaint was filed with the purported video appended.
Following the complaint, the rights commission asked the state government to take appropriate action.
A departmental inquiry was conducted by the deputy director of Punjab Roadways, who recommended action against the accused.
