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Tribune News Service
Sangrur, September 17
More than 19 years after Canadian resident Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, alias Jassi, was murdered for marrying against the wishes of her family, a Sangrur court has framed charges against her mother Malkiat Kaur Sidhu (70) and maternal uncle Surjit Singh Badesha (74), who are lodged in the Kapurthala jail.
“The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Smriti Dhir framed charges under Sections 302, 307 and 120B against Malkiat Kaur and Badesha. After they were extradited, the Sangrur police had submitted a supplementary chargesheet against both of them in the Malerkotla court. Later, the case was transferred to Sangrur,” said Ashwani Chaudhary, counsel of Sukhwinder Singh Mithu, husband of deceased Jassi.
On January 24, 2019, a team of the Sangrur police led by SP (Investigations) Gurmeet Singh had taken over the custody of the accused from the New Delhi police after both were handed over to them by the Canadian police. Later, both accused were lodged in the Sangrur jail but they requested to be shifted to Kapurthala as it had “better facilities”.
“In the coming days, 23 witnesses of the prosecution will be produced in the court. The witnesses include police officers and other residents, who had played some role in the case,” Chaudhary said.
Jassi had married Mithu secretly in March 1999 allegedly against the wishes of her family. In June 2000, contract killers had allegedly attacked the couple near Narike village under Amargarh police station of Sangrur. Jassi was killed on the spot and her body was thrown in a canal while Mithu survived with serious injuries. The Amargarh police had initially registered a case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) and 364 (kidnapping) of the IPC, but after the recovery of Jassi’s body, Section 302 was added, and a FIR was registered against nine persons.
“Malkiat Kaur and Badesha were declared proclaimed offenders in 2003. The framing of charges got delayed because both kept delaying their extradition from Canada,” Chaudhary said. On September 5, the court had dismissed the bail plea of Malkiat Kaur.
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