Moga molestation case: Punjab HC take suo motu cognizance, hearing on Monday

New Delhi: Punjab High Court has taken suo moto cognizance of the incident in Moga in which a teenaged girl died after being molested and thrown off a moving bus, as per news reports on Sunday.

The hearing in the matter will take place tomorrow after a senior citizen complained about the incident.

After widespread protests across the state, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday ordered Orbit buses to go off the road with immediate effect.

An orientation course of the staff of the bus company will also be held and no buses will ply until then.

Orbit Aviation company is owned by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his family.

While refusing the authorities plea to conduct a post-mortem and cremate her body, the victim`s family is demanding that a case be registered against Badal and others who own the Orbit Aviation Company.

The family has also refused to accept a compensation of Rs 20 lakh being offered by the Punjab government.

The shocking incident took place when the 13-year-old victim and her mother were thrown off the moving bus by a group of men, including the conductor, after they resisted molestation attempts.

The victim`s mother, Shinder Kaur, was also pushed out of the moving bus. She is in a government hospital in Moga with serious injuries.

She said that they complained about the molestation to the bus driver but he mocked at them and speeded up the vehicle.

The family of three, including a 14-year-old boy, had boarded the bus in Moga for Baghapurana town, which is 20 km away, on Wednesday evening. But some people in the bus began making indecent gestures at the mother and daughter and later molested the girl.

Following the public outrage in Punjab after the girl`s death, the police arrested four people, including three staff members of the Orbit bus.

They were booked for murder, attempt to murder and molestation.

(With PTI Inputs)