CHANDIGARH – After spending around seven months behind bars for abduction and causing forcible abortion of her daughter, senior Akali leader and former President of Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee (SGPC), Bibi Jagir Kaur was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday.
Division bench comprising Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal and Justice G S Sandhawalia ordered to release her on bail after hearing the bail application filed by Jagir Kaur Bench, however, made its clear that on her release on bail, Bibi would not leave country without the permission of the high court. HC has also ordered to expedite the hearing of appeals filed by Bibi against her sentence as well as the appeal filed by CBI seeking enhancement of sentence for Bibi under murder charges.
On March 30 the Special CBI court of Patiala in Punjab convicted Bibi Jagir Kaur and three others and sentenced five years rigorous imprisonment for abduction and causing forcible abortion to Bibi’s daughter Harpreet Kaur. Court had, however, acquitted her from the murder charges. At the time of her conviction, Bibi was a cabinet rank minister in Prakash Singh Badal government and had to resigned. All were sentenced after holding guilty under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with 365 (Kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 313 (Causing miscarriage without woman’s consent) and under sections 344 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Later on June 1, one of the accused Nishan Singh was granted bail by the HC while two others Paramjit Singh Raipur and Dalwinder Kaur Dhesi were released on bail by the HC on July 6. Bibi’s daughter Harpreet Kaur, who had died under mysterious circumstances in April 2000, was cremated the very next day without a postmortem being conducted.
Thereafter the case was handed over to CBI following the judicial intervention. Importantly, CBI has already moved an appeal before the HC seeking Bibi’s conviction for the murder of her daughter Harpreet Kaur. According to the premier agency, the trial court at Patiala has failed to appreciate that death of Harpreet Kaur was homicidal.
