Police on Wednesday claimed that the Muktsar bus molestation case of May 13 was “false” and moved an application in court for cancellation of the FIR registered in this regard. The FIR was lodged six days ago against the conductor of the bus of New Deep transport company, owned by Dimpy Dhillon, the in-charge of SAD in Gidderbaha. A police case against the complainant and anyone else who provoked the complainant for misinforming police will be lodged once the FIR is quashed, added police. Private transport companies had observed a strike on May 16 across the state over the lodging of an “hurried” FIR in the case. The FIR was lodged on the basis of a complaint by one Jasvir Singh, father of two minor girls, who had alleged that his daughters were molested and thrown off a bus (number PB30E 9948) after intimidation on May 13. Police had lodged the FIR on charges of criminal intimidation and outraging the modesty of a woman on May 15 — the complainant had come to the police station 24 hours after the incident, May 14. SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal said: “The CCTV footage shows Jasvir Singh with his elder daughter, 15, travelling in the bus. His younger daughter (13) cannot be seen anywhere. Even at the DC complex, where they had gone to get the Aadhar card made, only two of them were seen.” The footage from a CCTV installed on the main road, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, shows the father and daughter getting off from the bus at 12.24 pm on May 13 at Kotakpura bypass on their own. It further shows them waiting for another bus at the same spot and later boarding a bus of Sagar bus service at 12.41 pm. The SSP said, “We found that no one had pushed the duo and they got off on their own. In addition, even one handicapped person, Manpreet Singh of Jhabelwali village, had given a statement that the girls were thrown out and ill-treated inside the bus. He had said he had also stepped down at the same spot. However, the footage does not show him. Moreover, Manpreet’s mobile location shows he was in Bathinda at that time.”
