E-Paper
In jail for husband’s murder, Mohali woman accuses jailer of molestation; probe on
She made the allegations in a call from the jail phone booth to additional director general of police (prisons) Gaurav Yadav on Monday, and later her lawyer met the DGP (prisons) with a submitted a written complaint
The prisons department of Punjab has formed a three-member investigation committee after a woman from SAS Nagar, lodged in the Nabha Maximum Security Jail in Patiala district for the murder of her husband, levelled allegations of molestation against jail superintendent Karanjeet Singh Sandhu.
She made the allegations in a call from the jail phone booth to additional director general of police (prisons) Gaurav Yadav on Monday, and later her lawyer met the DGP (prisons) with a submitted a written complaint. It said Sandhu called her to his office and asked the warden to leave, after which he made sexual advances, even removed her dupatta, and outraged her modesty. After she resisted, she was harassed mentally, and has been continuously facing sexual harassment, the complaint said.
The ADGP asked the inspector general (prisons), Roop Kumar Arora, to conduct a preliminary probe. The IG deputed Surinder Singh Saini, who visited the jail and said the panel must include women. The three members now are DIG Saini and two women, SP (headquarters) Pamajit Kaur and the superintendent of Ludhiana women jail, Damanjit Kaur Walia.
The panel will record statements and submit its report in four days, said ADGP Yadav. When contacted, Sandhu denied the allegations.
The woman, who allegedly packed her husband’s body in a suitcase but was caught before she could dump it, is in the Nabha jail as SAS Nagar (Mohali) does not have its own prison.
The Nabha jail made headlines for the wrong reasons November last year too, when six inmates were freed in an attack by their accomplices.
