Ex-Gurdaspur SP guilty of rape; quantum on Feb 21
A local court on Friday held former Gurdaspur superintendent of police Salwinder Singh, 55, guilty in a rape case registered against him in 2016. The sentence will be pronounced on February 21. Salwinder had shot into the limelight after he was purportedly kidnapped by terrorists hours before the Pathankot airbase attack.
GURDASPUR : A local court on Friday held former Gurdaspur superintendent of police Salwinder Singh, 55, guilty in a rape case registered against him in 2016. The sentence will be pronounced on February 21.
Salwinder had shot into the limelight after he was purportedly kidnapped by terrorists hours before the Pathankot airbase attack in January 2016.
He was quizzed repeatedly by various investigative agencies , but was given a clean chit.
However, in August that year, Salwinder was booked after a Punjab government employee accused him of taking ₹50,000 bribe to delete his name from the FIR in a “false” rape case and also developing illicit relations with his wife on the pretext of visiting his house for probe.
The case was registered under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 13 (2) (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at Gurdaspur city police station.
Gurdaspur SSP Swarndeep Singh said the complainant had been booked for rape on a local’s complaint in February 2014. His wife used to meet the then SP in connection with the case.
Salwinder was declared a proclaimed offender in the rape case, after his bail plea was rejected in the Punjab and Haryana high court in September 2016. He remained underground, but finally, surrendered in a Gurdaspur court in 2017.
Later that year, the Punjab government proceeded with his compulsory retirement stating his “controversial conduct throughout his service in Punjab Police, starting as an ASI”.
At present, Salwinder was out on bail and had come to the court of Gurdaspur additional district and sessions judge Prem Kumar for the hearing in the rape case. After the judgment, police were told to take Salwinder to the Gurdaspur jail. However, jail authorities refused to keep him there for security reasons and he was moved to the Amritsar central jail.
MULTIPLE CASES
In October 2016, another case of sexual harassment was slapped against Salwinder in Gurdaspur after six women cops filed a complaint against him with the Punjab DGP. Another case of sexual harassment dates back to the time when he was training as an ASI in the Phillaur Police Academy. He allegedly got involved in a scandal with a woman employee posted in the principal’s office.