Moga incident: SC Commission chairman visits hospital

 National Commission for Scheduled Castes Chairman P L Punia today visited the civil hospital where the mother of the teenage girl, who was molested and thrown off a moving bus belonging to the ruling Badal family, is recuperating.

Punia met the girl's father, Sukhdev Singh, and other family members and inquired about the condition of her mother.

Singh told Punia that his family was under political pressure to hush up the matter and compromise.

He said, "We are not going to cremate our daughter, whose body has been kept in the mortuary of the civil hospital, till a criminal case was initiated against the owners of the bus."

Singh also told Punia that bus owners were violating rules by installing tinted glasses and putting up curtains on the windows.

Punia also met people who were sitting on a dharna in front of the hospital demanding justice for the family and action against the bus owners.

Senior civil and police officers, including DIG of Police A S Chahal, SSP J S Khehra and Deputy Commissioner Raminder Singh Gill, received Punia at the hospital.

Family members of the girl had yesterday refused to perform her last rites, rejecting government compensation and demanding action against the owners of the vehicle.

Later talking to newspersons, Punia said the permits of Orbit Aviation, the transport firm that owns the bus in which the incident took place, should be canceled and a case be against the owners of the company.

"I would not say that a murder case be registered, but a case of criminal negligence should be registered," he said.

Punia said it was also unfortunate that the victim's family was being pressurized.