Moga bus molestation case: Commission record statements of witnesses

Moga: The statements of 11 witnesses, including cops, were recorded by the inquiry commission probing the death of a minor girl who was allegedly molested and thrown off a moving bus in Moga.

 However, complainant Sukhdev Singh, father of the deceased girl, again failed to turn up before the commission here, which had started the probe yesterday.

 Justice V K Bali, a retired judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, has been appointed to probe the death of a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly molested and thrown out by the employees of Orbit bus company which is owned by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's family.

 Justice Bali told reporters that he had tried his best to record the statement of Sukhdev Singh so that justice could be delivered to the family.

 He said he had visited the family at their native village, Lande Ke, and assured them that the commission would provide them justice.

 Bali said during his two-day stay at Moga he recorded statements of 11 witnesses. They included three passengers, Gagandeep Singh, Paramjeet Singh and Jagtar Singh, the deceased's grandmother, Surjeet Kaur, and two doctors, Aman Garg and Sanjay Dogra.

 The commission also recorded statements of former Baghapurana Station House Officer (SHO) Avtar Singh, who was Investigation Officer of the crime, and Partap Singh, present SHO Baghapurana, and a lady ASI.

 Justice Bali also visited prison and met all the four employees of the Orbit bus company.

 Sukhdev, in his complaint, had alleged that on April 29 the employees of Orbit had outraged the modesty of his daughter. When the girl and her mother objected, they were thrown out from the moving vehicle close to Gill village on Moga-Kotkapura road.

 The girl had died while her mother received serious injuries leading to hue and cry by several quarters, including various political parties.

 The driver and conductor maintained that both mother and daughter had jumped out on their own.