Rape case: Punjab ex-MLA Simarjeet Bains booked for failing to appear in court

The court had also ordered that the properties of Bains, a list of which was submitted before it, be attached.

Following the order, Bains and other accused – including his brothers Karamjit Bains, Paramjit Bains, as well as Sukhchain Singh, Pardeep Kumar, Baljinder Kaur and Jasvir Kaur – have been booked in an FIR registered at division number 6 police station.

Harish Rai Dhanda, counsel for the victim, said: “The court of additional session judge Rashmi Sharma had rejected the anticipatory bail application filed by Bains on the grounds that a similar relief was also sought from the Supreme Court and a petition remains pending in the apex court. So, the court said that the bail plea in the lower court was non-maintainable.”

Dhanda added that Bains and other accused in the case were declared “proclaimed offenders” after they failed to appear before the court despite repeated notices and the police also failed to arrest them despite the issuance of multiple non-bailable warrants. “The accused did not appear before the court even after 30 days had lapsed from the date of proclamation,” said Dhanda.

Bains (52), who is the founder and president of the Lok Insaaf Party and a two-time MLA from Atam Nagar, was booked in an alleged rape case filed last year by the woman who alleged that the legislator raped her multiple times in 2020 after she approached him for help in a property dispute case.

The FIR was registered against Bains, his brothers Karamjit Singh and Paramjit Singh, and four others under sections 376 (rape), 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with an intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (conspiracy) of the IPC, at division number 6 police station on July 10 last year.