Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Tuesday announced to move the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek justice for Dalit victim who was allegedly sexually abused by Punjab Cabinet minister Lal Chand Kataruchak.
Pointing out that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) failed to register a case against Kataruchak, Sirsa asked how then can it claim that the victim has retracted his statement.
The BJP leader said for the last one-and-a-half month, the Punjab Police failed to take action against the Cabinet minister even after direction from National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC).
He alleged nothing was done since the victim filed a case with NCSC even as he kept hiding in amid death threats from the minister.
Sirsa said Punjab Governor Banwari Lal Purohit had categorically stated before the media that Kataruchak had committed a heinous crime, hence Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should remove him. He said that despite this public utterance from the Constitutional head of the state, CM refused to act against the minister.
“If Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann thinks that he can hoodwink the law of the land and save his minister by threatening the victim and his family and forcibly securing retracting statements, he is mistaken,” Sirsa said.
“We will approach the high court to ensure that not only the victim gets justice but the main culprit Kataruchak and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also gets punishment for saving the skin of a person who has sexually abused a minor on pretext of giving him a government job,’ he added.