HC issues notices in Moga molestation case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked the Punjab government to furnish the details of the policy under which compensation and a government job to a family member of the victim of the recent Moga molestation incident were announced.
A division bench of the High Court, comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Lisa Gill, asked the state government under what scheme and policy it gave financial compensation of Rs 24 lakh and offered a job to a family member of the deceased girl who was molested and thrown out of a moving bus with her mother in Moga.
The bench posted the matter for July 30 after Advocate General of Punjab sought time to file the affidavit.

The court had on May 19 issued notices to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, his wife and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal besides the CBI on a petition filed by advocate Jasdeep Singh Bains seeking CBI inquiry in the case.
The affidavits related to these notices would also be filed on the next date of hearing.
A teenage girl was killed after being molested and thrown off with her mother from a moving bus belonging to Orbit Aviation, a transport company owned by the ruling Badal family.

The bench also sought shareholding details of all operators owning more than 10-stage carriage buses from Punjab government.

It also asked the state to inform the court on the number of cases registered against stage carriage operators in the state in the past one year.
The court has also asked Orbit Aviation to file balance sheet of the past five years.
The bench had also directed the Advocate General, Punjab, to produce the FIR related to the incident registered at Baghapurana police station in Moga district on April 30.
The AG was also asked to disclose the criminal cases registered against the stage carriage permit holders in the last one year.
Earlier, the state government had provided details of buses owned by the state-owned Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) and also the private operators.

In its reply, the state told the court that there were 2,508 state-owned buses and 3,543 private buses.