Woman who accused DSP of addiction push, rape launches drive against drugs

LUDHIANA: A day after a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) at Ferozepur was suspended after a Ludhiana woman accused him of rape and pushing her into drug addiction, the 26-year-old woman held a press meet here on Friday to announce a campaign ‘Nashe Khilaaf Punjab’, which she said she will lead along with Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) president and MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains, who accompanied her.

Not hiding her face or name (withheld due to legal reasons), she appealed to drug addicts and others to complain against peddlers in their area. Bains also launched a helpline number, 93735-93734, promising to keep identity of the complainants secret. He said people should “send videos of drug addicts in their areas, so that we can send them to the chief minister’s office”. “Government should also come to know about the ground reality of Punjab,” he said, adding, “Soon, we will move via social networks and cover the whole state.”

Bains said that under this campaign, she will move across the state. She said, “Youth of Punjab is not moving into the menace of drugs on its own, but is being forced into it by police and peddlers. Like I have been cured, others can also be saved, but they need to come forward and leave behind the social stigma.”

Refuting allegations of a political stunt, Bains said, “Rather, all political parties should come on one stage for saving Punjab and its youth.”

On Thursday, the woman had covered her face in front of the media in Jalandhar where Bains and AAP MLA and leader of opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira accompanied her. She alleged that in 2013 her friend took her to the DSP’s house in Tarn Taran, where he offered her heroin for the first time.

“When I got hooked to the drug, I asked for it for the second time and he asked me to come to Tarn Taran where he raped me,” she alleged. CM Capt Amarinder Singh has marked an inquiry into the allegations.

The woman’s parents, who were present at the press meet on Friday, said that in the beginning they were not aware that she was a drug addict.

“She used to pull our hair and bite our arms for just Rs 2,000 for drugs. We are thankful to God that our daughter is out of this menace,” they said.