More than two-decades after a French-national Katia Darnand was allegedly kidnapped and molested in India, the National Commission for Woman on Friday issued notice to the Punjab Government. The grandson of the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, was one of the accused in the case.
Katia did not appear before the court of UT Chief Judicial Magistrate for recording of a testimony. At one point of time, the feasibility of sending a Court Commission to France was also considered but finally all the accused, including, Kotli were let of by the court.
Sharing information, SAD leader Maheshinder Singh Grewal, who accompanied the petitioner-Delhi councillor Gurjeet Kaur to the NCW office, said that NCW chairperson lalita Kumar Mangalam took due note of the complaint and said that she would ensure justice was done in the matter.
The complainant Gurjeet Kaur appealed to the Commission to reopen the case and order a fresh trial saying that appropriate sections of the Indian Penal Code were not included in the case against former Chief Minister Beant Singh’s grandson Gurkirat Kotli “who attacked, kidnapped, molested and probably raped Katia Darnand on the fateful day of August 31, 1994”.
Gurjeet Kaur submitted that her petition germinated from an article which had been published in a national daily this year in the form of an open letter from Katia Darnand. She said that the foreign national, in the letter, has said that she complained against Kotli and even identified him in a test parade besides recording her statement before a magistrate under section 164 of Criminal procedure Code (CrPC).
“Despite all this, she did not get justice and she was forced to give up the case due to fear of her life. Katia says she was forced to choose for her life over dignity and justice was denied to her. She also said that she regretted coming to India, all of which is a shame for us,” the woman councillor said. The complainant maintained that the case was not pursued effectively by the prosecution due to pressure from the then Punjab Chief Minister, and now the case was fit for reinvestigation after Katia Darnand’s open letter.