Akali mom guilty of abortion not killing

The law caught up with Punjab cabinet minister Bibi Jagir Kaur for the mysterious death of her teenaged daughter Harpreet Kaur 12 years ago.

A fortnight after she was sworn in as the lone woman minister in the Parkash Singh Badal government, a special CBI court in Patiala on Friday convicted her and sentenced her to five years in jail. She was arrested and sent to

Patiala central jail.

Kaur, the minister for rural water supply and sanitation and defence services in the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government, resigned from the cabinet. She was found guilty of criminal conspiracy, illegal confinement and involvement in the forceful abortion of her daughter's 27-week foetus. The court, however, didn't find her guilty of murder.

Kaur, a powerful politician in Punjab and considered close to the chief minister, was made a cabinet minister on March 14. Being a former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president (in 1999-2000 and in 2004), she has a sizeable hold over Sikh religious affairs.

CBI counsel R.K. Handa said the judge examined and accepted evidence against Kaur and the other accused for kidnapping, wrongful confinement and terminating Harpreet's pregnancy. In its chargesheet, the CBI had claimed that Kaur sought the help of a doctor to suggest the poison to kill her daughter.

But no one was convicted for the murder. The court also held Paramjit Singh, Dalwinder Kaur Dhesi and Nishan Singh guilty of kidnapping and wrongful confinement of Harpreet.

Paramjit and Dalwinder are from Phagwara, while Nishan Singh was Kaur's official escort. Dalwinder and Paramjit were convicted for "terminating" Harpreet's pregnancy without her consent.

Harpreet aka Rosy died mysteriously on April 20, 2000. She was cremated at Begowal -Kaur's native village in the Kapurthala district - a day after her death without an autopsy.

Harpreet's husband Kamaljit Singh, who was 21 when the murder took place, had alleged that his wife had angered her mother and other family members by secretly marrying him. Kamaljit, also from Begowal, belonged to a lower caste. He met Harpreet during a campaign for the Shiromani Akali Dal and they fell in love. The duo married without Kaur's consent.

He moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court a week after the murder alleging that Harpreet, who was six months pregnant at the time of her death, was murdered at the behest of her mother at Phagwara, an industrial town 20 km from Jalandhar. The court called for a CBI probe.