Mithu’s tormentors to pay compensation : The Tribune India

quick links

States

Cities

Opinion

Life

Move Ahead

Classified

Reach Us

The Tribune

Punjabi Tribune

Dainik Tribune

A file of Sukhwinder Singh and the late Jaswinder Kaur.

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 12

Hounded by the police for several years following the brutal murder of his Canada-born wife Jaswinder Kaur Jassi by contract killers in June 2000, Sukhwinder Singh Mithu has finally got justice.

The Commission of Inquiry into false cases set up by the Capt Amarinder Singh government has ordered action under Section 182 of the CrPC against the police officials concerned. It has also ordered that they pay compensation, to be decided by the government, for harassing him.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Jassi was killed by contract killers allegedly hired by her mother Malkiat Kaur and uncle Surjit Singh Badesha on June 8, 2000. The two are yet to be extradited to face trial here. Of the 14 contract killers, three are serving a life term.

Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice BS Mehndiratta, in their orders issued today, said: “We are of the considered view that the complainant (Mithu, a resident of Kaunke Khosa in Jagraon) has been unnecessarily harassed. Adequate compensation should be paid to him and recovered from the police officials.

Also, proceedings under Section 182 of CrPC should be initiated against the police officials who have lodged false cases against him.” Mithu, 41, while moving the commission, had said: “The persons who got my wife killed got me booked in a false case of rape in 2004. I was acquitted in April 2008. These persons have been trying hard to pay me off a large sum for withdrawing the charges against her parents. They have tried to intimidate me with false cases.

Mithu told The Tribune that on his release from jail in 2008, he was unanimously elected panchayat member. “I have never been affiliated with the Akalis or the Congress. My enemies didn’t like my political rise and began harassing me through police officials. I was booked in several cases. I was told to reach a ‘compromise’ in my wife’s case. I was beaten up and threatened at the behest of an Akali sarpanch.”

Booked in false cases

Booked under the NDPS Act on May 22, 2009, he was acquitted by a Ludhiana court in 2015
Booked in a case of snatching on May 24, 2009, he was acquitted by a Jagroan court on May 4, 2017
On August 4, 2015, he was booked by the Jagraon police under the Excise Act for carrying liquor
On December 9, 2015, he was picked from home and booked under the NDPS Act for carrying drugs