UT SSP Kanwardeep Kaur to get Home Minister’s award for excellence in investigation

As per details, Kaur worked the case when she was the SSP of Kapurthala district. On the basis of Kaur’s investigations, the Kapurthala district court not only handed down the death sentence to the 26-year-old accused, who had raped and left the 7-year-old brutally injured, but also awarded a Rs 8 lakh compensation to the victim and her family.

According to details of the case, the police had nabbed the accused Mukesh Kumar, a resident of Bihar, for committing the crime in a slum area near the Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, on March 15, 2021, immediately after the incident. The police later said that Mukesh had arrived in Kapurthala two weeks before the day of the incident.

Subsequently, a case was registered under sections 376 (punishment for rape), 307 (attempt to murder), and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, as well as Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), at the Sultanpur Lodhi police station.

According to the police complaint, Mukesh had lured the girl, who was alone at home, to an empty hut on the pretext of offering her biscuits. He then proceeded to rape her. The girl, in critical condition, was later rushed to the Civil Hospital in Kapurthala by her parents. Following a medical examination, she was referred to the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, and from there to the Government Medical College in Amritsar. The minor underwent multiple surgeries over a period of two-month during the couse of her treatment.

Kanwardeep Kaur, the then SSP of Kapurthala, oversaw the investigations and filed the charge sheet in the case within 12 days.

Speaking to the Indian Express, SSP Chandigarh Kaur on Saturday said that the award would motivate her to work harder. “It’s a source of big encouragement for me. The award will give me a lot of motivation to keep working hard to ensure justice for everyone,” she said.