High Court grants bail to Jagir Kaur

Seven months after she was jailed for abducting and forcing her daughter Harpreet Kaur to abort, Punjab’s former Akali minister Bibi Jagir Kaur was on Thursday granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Kaur was directed not to leave the country without prior permission.

Kaur was holding the charge of three department including panchayats and rural water supply in theShiromani Akali Dal-BJP government when the court held her guilty of criminal conspiracy, illegal confinement and involvement in the forced abortion of her daughter’s 27-week male foetus.

The court, however, acquitted her of the charges of murder. Kaur resigned from the cabinet after her arrest.

Jagir Kaur’s daughter Harpreet Kaur alias Rosy had died under mysterious circumstances on April 20, 2000.

She was cremated at Begowal — Bibi Jagir Kaur’s native village in Punjab’s Kapurthala district — a day after her death without conducting a post-mortem examination or inquest proceeding.

Kamaljit Singh, a youth from the same village who claimed to have married Bibi’s daughter, moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court a week later.

He alleged that Bibi Jagir Kaur was involved in Harpreet Kaur’s murder. Singh had said their marriage had been the reason of Harpreet Kaur’s death. The HC had directed a CBI probe.
Central Bureau of Investigation had filed a charge-sheet against Jagir Kaur a decade ago alleging her involvement in her daughter’s murder.

A crucial witness, government doctor Balwinder Singh Sohal, an accused turned
approver died in a road accident after recording his statement in the court in 2008.