Mother turns hostile in Orbit bus case

Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, February 9

The mother of a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly molested and died after being thrown off a moving bus belonging to the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister’s transport fleet turned hostile while deposing as the key witness in a trial court here today. 

Shinder Pal Kaur, her daughter Arshdeep Kaur and 11-year-old son Akashdeep were travelling in a bus of Orbit Aviations Private Limited when the girl was allegedly thrown off the bus, resulting in her death, on April 29, 2015. The mother too had fallen off.

The case had led to statewide protests, following which Sukhbir Singh Badal decided to take the buses off road for a short while. On Shinder Pal Kaur’s statement, the Moga police had registered an FIR under Sections 302, 307, 354, 34, 120B of the IPC, Section 3 of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act and relevant sections of the Prevention of Atrocities against Children Act against bus conductor Sukhwinder Singh, driver Ranjit Singh and helpers Gurdip Singh and Amarjit Singh. They all were arrested and are in judicial custody. As per the FIR, the girl was molested and then thrown off along with Shinder Pal. The High Court had ordered a fast-track trial. A judicial commission was also set up.

On Tuesday, Shinder Pal came to the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Gurjant Singh along with her husband, Sukhdev Singh, to record her statement. He had turned hostile on December 11. 

Even as the two prosecution lawyers ‘grilled’ her, she categorically refuted, point by point, her statement recorded with the police soon after the incident.  

“I have no knowledge of the contents of the statement recorded by the police because I was not in my senses at the time,” she told the court during closed-door proceedings. When confronted that the statement was read by the police officers before getting her signatures, she denied it.

She claimed that the conductor did not demand an extra Rs 10 from her while handing over three tickets. In the FIR, it was mentioned that this had led to a confrontation and the molestation. She even refuted that a confrontation had taken place. Shinder Pal Kaur refused to identify the accused, who were present in the court.

She said she did not recall what had transpired in the bus and how her daughter had fallen off the bus. Her son was sitting in a front row, she stated. 

The court has fixed March 25 as the next date of hearing. Akashdeep will record his statement on the next hearing.