Case that brought shame to holy city

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 31

The Amritsar Siti Cable sex scandal that rocked the city in 2003 is a classic case of justice delayed is justice denied. As the wheels of justice moved at a snail’s pace, it gave ample time to the accused to pressure the key witnesses, one of whom was Jaswinder Singh who ended up killing himself.

The Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO) led by its chairman Justice Ajit Singh Bains (retd) had exposed the scandal. Officials of the then Amritsar Communication Limited (which then ran Siti Cable) were booked on the charges of supplying girls to politicians, bureaucrats, judges and police officers. An FIR was lodged on May 23, 2003. A total of 18 persons were booked, of which the police had arrested Sarabjit Singh Raju, at present Fastway Cables’ local in charge, Hari Om Dhanoka, Gagan Bedi, Parveen Chadha and Sandeep Kumar. The case was transferred to the CBI with within a week.

A separate FIR was registered by the CBI on June 3, 2003. It also arrested the remaining 13 accused. But the CBI failed to produce challan within 90 days that facilitated bail to all the accused. The accused then allegedly started threatening the witnesses, numbering around 100. It took more than two years for the CBI to file a chargesheet in the case on August 17, 2005, while the charges were framed against the accused on May 26, 2006. The witnesses were summoned by the CBI court in Patiala on August 25, 2006, but the trial virtually got grounded after that.

Sarabjit Singh Verka of the PHRO said: “The CBI court summoned the case file and it remained with it for almost three years. The trial resumed on January 17, 2009. In a way, the actual trial began six years after the scandal was exposed.” When the trial restarted in January 2009, the witnesses started turning hostile. Jaswinder Singh, meanwhile, filed a complaint on July 11, 2009, stating that he was receiving threats. At that time he had deposed against the accused.

“He had also met the then CBI Director. The latter then directed the local police to provide protection to him, which he never got. The PHRO then moved a plea that the bail of the accused be cancelled and only after it the statements of witnesses be recorded.” Verka said despite the court order, the statements of 15 witnesses, including Jaswinder, were recorded on September 17, 2010, when Jaswinder turned hostile.

“Surprisingly, key accused in the case like Raju got security cover, but not the witnesses,” said Verka.

In September 2014, four witnesses moved an application before the CBI court for again recording their statements, but their plea was dismissed. One of the witnesses, Ram Singh, has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Jaswinder too planning to move the court, he added.