Angry at woman’s marriage, kin assault husband near court
Miffed over her love marriage, the parents, brothers and their accomplices assaulted the husband of a 21-year-old woman of Shimlapuri locality in Ludhiana with sharp-edged weapons and a hammer outside the court complex in broad daylight, leaving him critically injured, on Saturday. They also tried to abduct the woman, Ramanjot Kaur, but people who gathered there foiled that bid.
The victim, Pankaj Kumar Sharma, 27, was rushed to the local ESIC Hospital and later referred to Christian Medical College and Hospital, where his condition was stated to be critical.
The couple had gone to court for a hearing of a case wherein they had filed for protection besides registration of marriage. The woman’s family had also filed an application in the court seeking her custody, claiming that Pankaj was already married and thus this marriage was void.
Division Number 5 police registered a case of attempt to murder against the woman’s father Sohan Singh, mother Amandeep Kaur, brothers Navjot Singh and Jashanjot Singh, neighbour Karamjit Kaur, and four unidentified accomplices, on a complaint by assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Baldev Singh, in-charge at the court complex police post. While mother Amandeep and neighbour Karamjit, who claims to be the first wife of Pankaj, have been arrested, the others remain at large.
Pankaj of Adarsh Colony in Shimlapuri is an electrician and had married Ramanjot of Satguru Nagar of Shimlapuri on February 14, after a six-year relationship, at a temple against the will of their parents. However, his parents accepted them later.
“On Saturday, after the hearing , when the couple was heading home, parents of the woman and their accomplices turned up there in a car and on two motorcycles,” said Bhupinder Singh, station house officer of Division-5. “They stopped the couple in Kochar Market area near the court complex and assaulted Pankaj with sharp-edged weapons and hammers,” he added.
Ramanjot later said her parents also tried to take her along, but she resisted and screamed, following which they fled from the spot, leaving Pankaj on the road in a pool of blood. Her parents had been continuously threatening them, she said.
Satwinder Singh, a friend of Pankaj, alleged that Pankaj ran to the police post seeking help, “but the cops did not bother”. The police turned up at the spot after the accused had escaped, he added. He also said that when the ambulance did not reach on time he took Pankaj to hospital in a rickshaw.