Rape charges framed against Langah
GURDASPUR : A local court on Wednesday framed charges against former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) minister Sucha Singh Langah who was booked in September last year for allegedly raping a Punjab Police woman constable.
The complainant had also submitted a video in which Langah was seen in a compromising position with her. The video had gone viral on social media during the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll.
On Wednesday, Langah was brought on production warrant from the high-security Nabha jail to the court of Gurdaspur additional district and sessions judge Prem Kumar Garg. Defence counsel SS Basra pleaded for another date for framing the charges but the court rejected the same. The court fixed February 28 as the next day of hearing.
Langah was recently admitted to the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, after he had complained of high sugar level. He had failed to appear in the court for a couple of times even through videoconferencing.
Then the court issued production warrant against him and directed the police to bring him.
Speaking to the media outside the court, Langah said he was forcibly discharged from the PGI even as he had not recovered from illness.
Langah was booked under Sections 376 (rape), 384 (extortion), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code at the Gurdaspur city police station on September 29 last year.
On October 6, on the complaint of some Sikh organisations Section 295-A (hurting religious sentiments) was also added to the FIR.
A Punjab Police woman constable, who was a classmate of Langah’s daughter, had complained against him of raping her repeatedly since 2009 and also of selling off her properties fraudulently.
On the basis of the video, Langah was also excommunicated from the Sikh Panth by the Akal Takht. Langah had been absconding before he surrendered in a Gurdaspur court on October 4.
On October 3, he had moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, last year seeking anticipatory bail for 72 hours pleading that the said case was registered against him at the behest of his political opponents as part of a conspiracy.