JOIN USDaughter's death sends Jagir Kaur to prison
A woman minister in Punjab, Bibi Jagir Kaur, was arrested and sent to jail on Friday after a CBI special court sentenced her to a five-year jail term in a case relating to the death of her daughter Harpreet Kaur in April 2000.
Jagir Kaur, who was recently sworn in as a Cabinet minister in the Parkash Singh Badal-ruled government with panchayats and rural water supply portfolios, resigned immediately after the verdict by the special CBI court in Patiala, some 100 km from here, the state capital.
Jagir Kaur, a former president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC), was held guilty by the court for criminal conspiracy, illegal confinement and involvement in the forcible abortion of her daughter’s 27-week male foetus. The court of Balbir Singh, special Judge, CBI in Patiala, acquitted her of the charge of murder of her 19-year-old daughter.
On April 20, 2000, Harpreet Kaur alias Rosy died under mysterious circumstances . A day later, the body was cremated in the minister’s village without even a post-mortem. Kamaljit Singh, a young boy of the same village, had claimed to have married Harpreet and moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court here a few days later, accusing Bibi Jagir Kaur of murdering Rosy. He claimed that their marriage was the reason for Rosy's death. He alleged that their child was forcibly aborted a month before Harpreet’s murder. He had claimed "irrefutable documentary and photographic evidence" of pregnancy and their wedding.
Strangely, Kamaljit Singh turned hostile in 2010 and stayed away from court hearings. He is accused of stating later that he never married the girl.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had handed over the case to the CBI after a Punjab police special investigation team failed to provide results.
The CBI filed the charge-sheet against Jagir Kaur and others about a decade ago, alleging her involvement in her pregnant daughter’s death. The CBI named 134 people as witnesses in the case.
It even arrested Dalwinder Kaur Dhesi and Paramjit Singh Raipur—a Phagwara-based couple—on the charges of forcible abortion, conspiring to murder and destruction of evidence. Balwinder Singh Sohal, a government doctor and a crucial witness, was named an accused in the case but he turned an approver. He died in a road accident after recording his statement in court in 2008.
Meanwhile, the court held three others—Paramjit Singh, Dalwinder Kaur Dhesi and Nishan Singh guilty—of kidnapping and wrongful confinement of Harpreet Kaur. Nishan Singh was Jagir Kaur’s official escort.
Dalwinder and Paramjit were also convicted for terminating Harpreet’s pregnancy without her consent. Both were sentenced to five-year jail terms. Two others accused in the case were acquitted of all charges.