Sell convict’s property, give Rs 90 lakh to rape victim: HC

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service 

Faridkot, September 11

Awarding Rs 90 lakh as compensation to a 15-year-old rape victim and her parents, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Faridkot Deputy Commissioner to attach and sell the properties of culprit Nishan Singh and his mother Navjot Kaur for their “rowdy and cruel conduct”.

“We are aghast to see how a middle class family with two daughters was ravaged by landlord Nishan and his mother’s rowdy and cruel conduct,” observed the Bench of Justice AB Chaudhari and Justice Inderjit Singh. The court directed the Deputy Commissioner to sell the properties to recover the relief amount from the sale proceeds and make payment to the victims within 10 weeks. 

Armed with pistol, ‘kirpans’ and iron rods, Nishan along with his accomplices had barged into the minor’s house here on September 24, 2012. They dragged the victim’s father in the courtyard and assaulted him with rods, leading to multiple injuries. The girl’s mother and sister were beaten up too. The minor was then bundled into a car and taken away while Nishan’s aides fired into the air to intimidate the family.

Nishan and nine of his accomplices, including his mother, are currently lodged in jail after being convicted on May 27, 2013. While Nishan got life imprisonment, all others got seven-year jail. 

The court, in its order on August 31, observed this showed “the nature of beastly actions on the part of Nishan and his family in destroying the personality of a minor girl”. The copy of the order reached the Deputy Commissioner’s office today for its compliance.

“The grisly acts committed by Nishan, his relative Maninderjit Singh alias Dimpy Samra and his mother clearly show as to what kind of mental torture, trauma and social stigma the rape victim and her parents were subjected to,” read the court’s order.