Moga bus molestation: As all parties flock to family of girl, Sukhbir takes his buses off the road

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A press release from Orbit Aviation later said it had withdrawn all its buses, and set up a helpline for the convenience of passengers. The announcement came even as police confirmed that they had identified one of the co-passengers travelling with the girl in the bus. Sources said Tarsem Singh, a horticulture officer, had told police the bus had almost 20-25 passengers at the time, and that he was not aware of any molestation bid.

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Tarsem has reportedly also said that the bus was immediately stopped by the driver when the “molested” girl, Arshdeep Kaur, and her mother fell off the moving vehicle. Moga SSP J S Khaira confirmed that Tarsem was being interrogated.

READ: AAP, CTU union halt Orbit buses, lay siege to depot

“He is the only co-passenger whom we called for investigation. Work is on to identify the rest. Tarsem has told us he didn’t know whether there was any molestation or not as he was sitting far away, and that he had only noticed a clash when the women shouted for help before falling off the bus,” said a Moga police official to Express.

Arshdeep’s brother, who was also on the bus, and her mother have given varying accounts of the number of co-passengers. Shinder Kaur said only four-five people were on the bus and it was almost empty, while the brother said 10-12 people were travelling with them.

Addressing a press conference late on Saturday, DIG Amar Singh Chahal ruled out any FIR against the owners of the Orbit bus. “In the Delhi 16 gangrape case, the owner of the bus was booked for procuring fake documents and permits. In this case there is nothing like that so we cannot book the owner,” he said.

The body of Arshdeep Kaur, lying at Civil Hospital, Moga, is yet to undergo an autopsy, over 72 hours after she was allegedly pushed out of the bus and died, with the family insisting on action against Sukhbir.

Outside, her death has become a political tussle, with leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress and members of unions pressuring the family and openly disagreeing on the course of action.

While the union members said they were okay with an autopsy, AAP continued to advise the family against it. The family also fought among themselves, with Arshdeep’s grandmother and father saying they would not allow an autopsy till an FIR was registered against Sukhbir, even as others questioned the girl’s body lying without cremation for so long.

Arshdeep’s father Sukhdev Singh lamented the politics over her death. “Once the cremation is done, no one will bother to visit a poor family. He is the deputy CM and here I am, a poor labourer who will borrow money to cremate my daughter. My wife will die if this political drama does not end,” he cried.

Later, a new, nine-member all-party Joint Action Committee was announced, including one member of Arshdeep’s family and political leaders ranging from district Congress president Darshan Singh Brar and Kuldip Singh Bhola of the CPI to Ravinder Dhaliwal of the PPP, Kuldeep Gill of the AAP, Jaskaran Singh of SAD (Amritsar), and Bhagwant Maku of the Lok Sangram Manch.

The JAC said they would hold a candlelight march in Moga on Sunday. AAP sources said senior leaders Kumar Vishwas and Sanjay Singh may attend, while Captain Amarinder Singh of the Congress is also scheduled to visit the family.

With ENS, Chandigarh