A 13-year-old girl died and her mother was left seriously injured after they were thrown off a moving air-conditioned bus while resisting a group of men who tried to molest them on Wednesday evening in Punjab’s Moga district.
The police later arrested four people in this connection. The girl, Arshdeep Kaur, fell with her head hitting the road and died of impact. Her mother, Shinder Kaur, 36, sustained head injuries and is being treated at a hospital in Moga.
The bus is owned by Orbit Aviation private limited, a company in which the Badals –the ruling family of Punjab– have a major stake.
Cries for help by the girl and her mother fell on deaf ears. The few co-passengers in the bus did not come to their rescue. The incident took place on the Bathinda highway.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the Punjab government on the issue. The incident has sparked national outrage and drew comparison with the Delhi gang-rape incident that took place in a bus in the national capital in 2012.
Minutes before Arshdeep’s death, reports suggest that the girl begged the molesters to spare them. As the men groped the girl, the mother reached the bus driver for help, who instead accelerated.
The girl’s 14-year-old brother Akshaydeep Singh was witness to the incident. The family had boarded the bus to visit their relatives.
On Thursday, Punjab Police chief Sumedh Singh Saini said all the four accused in the case have been arrested. The accused have been identified as Sukhwinder Singh (conductor), Gupreet Singh (helper), Ranjit Singh (driver) and Amarjit Singh (conductor’s associate). The police said the initial altercation between the conductor and Kaur started over an extra amount of Rs 10 that the conductor demanded for ticket.
Agitated family members and well-wishers protested in Moga on Thursday seeking a CBI probe into the incident. MPs of the Congress and Bhagwant Mann of the AAP raised the issue with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The AC bus had curtains all over the window panes in violation of the rules. The incident has left the Badal family embarrassed.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said strict action would be taken against the guilty involved in the Moga bus incident. Badal described the incident as ‘deeply shocking’ and said that he had been very deeply pained by it.
Badal said the police had already registered a case of murder, attempt to murder, assault and criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her, acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention, and criminal conspiracy.
Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa said a case should be registered against the owners of the bus including Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. He said the High Court should take suo motu cognizance of the case.
Former chief minister of Punjab Capt Amarinder Singh said, “I am shocked and ashamed over the Moga incident.” Orbit owned buses, Bhagwant Mann alleged, are ill-famed for what he said was ‘road terrorism’ and no one dares to check their misconduct.