Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has pulled buses run by Orbit Aviation off the roads in Punjab, following massive protests over the death of a 14-year-old girl who was molested and then thrown off a moving bus on April 29.
Badal has asked the company to send the bus operating staff on an orientation course and has ordered that no buses should run till the completion of the course.
No Cremation
The family of the teenaged girl, who was killed after being molested and thrown off a moving bus belonging to Punjab’s ruling Badal family, has refused to cremate her, asking for compensation as well as cancellation of the transport firm’s permit even as the incident triggered protests by opposition parties.
Opposition Congress and AAP joined the agitating family and activists staging a protest in front of the Moga civil hospital where the injured mother of the deceased, who was also molested and shoved out of the vehicle, is undergoing treatment.
Sukhdev Singh, father of the victim, said they would not perform the final rites of the girl till their demands are accepted. These include Rs 50 lakh compensation to the family and cancellation of route permits of the bus company Orbit Aviation, on whose bus the incident took place two days back.
The body of the girl has been kept in the mortuary of the Civil Hospital.
DIG of Ferozepur Range Amar Singh Chahal told reporters he also met the family members to persuade them to perform the last rites but they did not relent.
Meanwhile, in a fresh twist to the incident, TV channels showed a letter purported to be carrying the thumb impression of the deceased’s father endorsing the action taken by the police so far.
Sukhdev Singh told TV channels he had put the thumb impression without being explained the contents of the document.
Congress and AAP also staged demonstrations at Baghapurana near Moga against the bus incident as also the alleged gangrape of another woman in the district that came to light last night.
AAP Lok Sabha member from Sangrur Bhagwant Mann, who led his party’s protest dharna outside the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Baghapurana with around 500 others, demanded questioning of the owners of Orbit Aviation.
He asked if officials of Uber taxi service could be questioned in connection with the alleged rape by a cab driver, why can’t the owners of Orbit Aviation be interrogated.
Mann recalled that in the Goa incident (relating to the detection of a CCTV camera directed towards the changing room where Union Minister Smriti Irani had gone) the entire top management was issued notices to join the investigation and questioned why different yardsticks were being adopted in this case.
Amid the tension over Wednesday night’s molestation and death of the girl, another incident of gangrape of a 20-year-old woman in Mari Mustafa village has also come to light. One person has been arrested in connection with the incident and a hunt is on for four others on the run, according to IG (Bathinda zone) P S Umranangal.
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Ownership of Bus Won’t Impact Moga Probe: Sukhbir Badal
Video: Badal Condemns Moga Incident – Bus Belonged to His Company
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