Punjab: Brother of former LIP MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains arrested in rape case, MLA still at large

A local court of Ludhiana had declared Simarjeet and other accused in the case as ‘proclaimed offenders’ in April after they had failed to appear for hearings and police also failed to arrest them. The former MLA had moved Punjab and Haryana High Court which also rejected his plea to quash the order declaring him as proclaimed offender.

Ludhiana joint commissioner of police (JCP, rural) Ravcharan Singh Brar said, “Karamjit Singh Bains has been arrested from Ranjit Avenue where the family’s new house was under construction. We are also in the process of attaching their property and seizing bank accounts as per the court orders.”

The complainant in the case had criticised the Ludhiana police for not arresting Simarjeet due to ‘political pressure’ even as he openly campaigned and addressed public rallies ahead of Punjab polls this year.

Simarjeet Singh Bains, 52, founder-cum-president of LIP, was booked in an alleged rape case filed by a 44-year-old woman last year. She had alleged that the former legislator ‘raped’ her multiple times in 2020 when she had approached the MLA for help in a property dispute case. The FIR was registered against Simarjeet, his two brothers – Karamjit Singh and Paramjit Singh – and four others, under the 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 Indian Penal Code on July 10, 2021.

Simarjeet and his eldest brother Balwinder Bains won from Atam Nagar and Ludhiana south seats in 2012 and 2017 respectively. But in the 2022 Punjab assembly elections both faced defeat.

Simarjeet has always maintained that the rape case against him and his brothers was ‘politically motivated’ as it was filed ahead of the Punjab elections of 2022.

Of the four Bains brothers, Simarjeet and Balwinder have been into politics, while Karamjit and Paramjit are businessmen.