Tarn Taran, September 11 — A local court on Wednesday convicted Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Khadoor Sahib, Manjinder Singh Lalpura, along with 10 others, in a 12-year-old molestation and assault case.
Additional Sessions Judge Prem Kumar will pronounce the quantum of sentence on September 12. Following the conviction, Lalpura and six other accused present in court were taken into custody and later lodged in Patti sub-jail.
“MLA Lalpura and other accused have been convicted under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 148 (rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence), and section 4 of the SC/ST Act,” said complainant’s counsel Amit Dhawan.
Of the total accused, seven — Lalpura, Saraj Singh, Davinder Kumar, Kawaldeep Singh, Ashwani Kumar, Tarsem Singh and Harjinder Singh — were present in court. Three others, Gagandeep Singh, Narinderjit Singh and Gurdeep Raj, are yet to be arrested, while another accused, Harvinder Singh Sushi, is already lodged in Tihar Jail.
The complainant, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste community, welcomed the court’s decision. “I am very happy today as justice has finally been delivered. I fought a long battle for it and even faced death threats from the culprits. I hope that the court will award stringent punishment to the guilty,” she said.
The case dates back to March 3, 2013, when the complainant and her family were allegedly assaulted by the accused, including then taxi driver Lalpura and some police personnel, at a marriage palace on Goindwal Road. The Supreme Court had later taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and directed paramilitary protection for the complainant, her cousin — an eyewitness — and their family members.
Lalpura, who defeated Congress candidate Ramanjit Singh Sikki by over 16,000 votes in the 2022 assembly elections, becomes the fifth AAP legislator in Punjab to face arrest by police or the vigilance bureau.
His conviction follows a string of legal troubles for the party’s MLAs. In May 2022, former health minister and Mansa MLA Vijay Singla was arrested in a corruption case. Bathinda Rural MLA Amit Rattan Kotfatta was held in a graft case in February 2023. Jalandhar Central MLA Raman Arora was arrested in May this year in a corruption matter involving a municipal official. Sanaur MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, facing a rape case, has been on the run since escaping police custody earlier this month.
The court will decide Lalpura’s sentence on September 12.
