Minister Aman Arora, mother awarded 2 yrs in jail in 16-year-old family dispute case

Deepa, a vice-president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), had accused Arora of physically assaulting him on March 3,2008. Deepa’s counsel, Gagan Pardeep Bal, said Deepa and his wife Sonia Arora had gone to Chandigarh for some work when they received a phone call that Arora and others have occupied his house. When Deepa reached his house, Arora and others allegedly attacked him with iron rod. Sonia, who is Arora’s sister, deposed before the court that she was present with Deepa when the attack took place.

Pronouncing the verdict, the magistrate said, “This court is of the view that the prosecution has been successful in bringing home the guilt of the accused persons … on the basis of the oral and documentary evidence on file, it stands proved beyond shadow of reasonable doubt that accused persons in furtherance of their common intention caused simple injuries to the complainant after trespassing into his house for causing hurt to complainant by assaulting him and putting him under fear”.

Arora, who handles the Employment Generation and Training, Governance Reforms and Removal of Grievances, New & Renewable Energy Resources and Printing and Stationary departments of Punjab government, said he will challenge the verdict in a higher court. Arora said that Deepa has got his mother convicted in a case in which both the parties had effected a compromise. He said, “I had got an FIR registered against him under section 308 of IPC.

He had tried to attack me and my mother in 2008. I had to be admitted to the hospital. But before the 2012 Assembly elections, we reached a compromise. But when I got a Congress ticket in 2012 and he did not, Deepa went back on the compromise. While we had withdrawn the case, he filed a private complaint”.

Arora, who joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2016 and went on to win from Sunam in 2017 and 2022, said he has immense faith in the judicial system. “Justice can be delayed but not denied. We will go in for an appeal. It is a political fight and he has also been trying to usurp my property,” said Arora.

On whether he would resign from the Assembly following his conviction, Arora said, “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan will take a call on that”.

Meanwhile, Deepa said that he has finally got justice after 16 long years. “It was a long fight. The police was not listening to me. After I was attacked, they had rather registered a case against me. I had to then file a private complaint,” said Deapa, demanding that Arora be disqualified from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Punjan AAP’s chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said it was unlikely that Arora would lose membership of the Assembly, “He has been sentenced to two years in jail. Also, this is a family dispute. He will go to the higher court for an appeal. This does not make him lose his Assembly membership or Cabinet berth.”

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in March had divested Arora of Housing and Information and Public Relations and gave him the less significant departments of Governance Reforms and Grievances Redressal.