Punjab Cabinet Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak is in deep waters. Facing allegations of “sexual misconduct” on the basis of two videos, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader on Friday faced attack from all sides with the alleged “sexual abuse victim” coming on camera to accuse Kataruchak of first befriending him and then sexually exploiting him on the promise of a government job on becoming an MLA.
That is not all! National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), taking note of “victim’s” complaint, issued notice to Punjab Government asking the officials concerned to submit an action taken report “immediately”.
Adding fuel to the fire is the opposition parties — including the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In chorus, they have been demanding immediate dismissal of the Minister from the Cabinet, besides his immediate arrest.
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was the first one to make the issue public by submitting the two “highly objectionable” videos to the Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Monday (May 1) demanding an inquiry into the same, besides forensic examination of the videos to ascertain its authenticity.
The Governor, acting on the serious allegations, asked the Chandigarh Director General of Police (DGP) to look into the complaint and conduct a forensic examination. The report is awaited.
On the other hand, the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann backed his Minister, asserting that he had not received any such videos. At the same time, he lashed out at the Opposition, especially Khaira, BJP’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and SAD’s Bikram Majithia, for making “baseless” allegations just for the sake of speaking against the Government.
On Friday, Sirsa tweeted a part of the video, in which the alleged “victim” claimed that he was on the run now fearing the Minister would harm him or his family.
Coming on camera, the “victim”, who identified him as Pathankot-resident, claimed that it was he who was shown in the video that was handed over to the Governor by Congress leader Khaira. In the video, he also alleged that he had been subjected to sexual misconduct by Kataruchak when “I was very young” — from 2013 to 2014, which continued till 2021.
Giving details, he alleged that Kataruchak had approached him by sending a friend request on the social networking website, Facebook, in 2013-14. When he accepted it, Kataruchak allegedly started making advances towards him, and later asked to have a relationship with him.
“I was too young at that time to understand anything…Later, Kataruchak called me to Gurdaspur…I refused saying that I don’t have enough money. He promised me that he will give me money once I come to meet him at Gurdaspur…He picked me from the bus stand and took me to his office for his sexual excesses,” said the man in the video.
The “victim” also added that he met Kataruchak for the last time on Diwali in 2021. “He then promised me a government job stating that he would become an MLA soon. After that he did not meet me and asked me not to approach him,” the “victim” alleged.
SC Panel Asks Punjab CS, DGP to Submit ATR Immediately
Taking serious note of the complaint by one Keshav Kumar alleging “sexual misconduct” by Punjab Cabinet Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) on Friday issued a notice to Punjab Government officials asking them to submit an action taken report “immediately”.
The victim Keshav Kumar, in a video message and a letter to NCSC, demanded justice as well as security, citing that the Minister is now giving threats to his life. “I am now on the run and submitting the complaint in Delhi as the Minister is threatening to harm me or my family. I request NCSC to take action against the Minister over the sexual misconduct and provide me security,” he said.
The Commission chairperson Vijay Sampla has asked the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police to investigate the matter and submit the action taken report (ATR) immediately, “through post or email, based on the facts and information on the action taken on the allegation or matter”.
The Commission has also asked the officials to provide security to the victim.
At the same time, Sampla cautioned the officers that if action taken report is not received within the stipulated time, the Commission might exercise the powers of the civil court conferred on it under article 338 of the Constitution of India, and issue a summon for personal appearance before the commission in Delhi.
Opposition Demands Kataruchak’s Immediate Dismissal, Arrest
Punjab’s opposition parties have come on one platform to unanimously demand the immediate dismissal and arrest of the state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak following “shocking” revelations that the Minister committed sodomy with a minor.
Making the demand, former Minister and SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia questioned the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for shielding the perpetrator of such a heinous crime.
Majithia, addressing a public gathering in Kartarpur assembly constituency, said: “With Kataruchak’s victim coming out in the open, it is clear that the obscene video of the Minister which has been submitted to the Punjab Governor is genuine. The video is also in the possession of the police which must have also verified it by now. It is surprising that the Chief Minister has not acted in the matter till now. Bhagwant Mann should tell Punjabis if he has something to hide due to which he is not taking action against the Minister.”
Quipping that this was the “badlav” AAP had brought in Punjab, Majithia said: “Earlier, AAP’s Jalalabad MLA Goldy Kamboj’s father was caught indulging in flesh trade extortion. Even then, the Chief Minister did not take action despite the fact that the father-son duo are together in everything and are even known to have been arrested in similar circumstances earlier. Now, he is again shielding Kataruchak and even denying the existence of a video tape which has been submitted to the Punjab Governor.”
Senior Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Partap Singh Bajwa demanded that the Minister be booked under the POCSO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offence) Act.
“The Minister has been facing very serious allegations. Punjab Chief Minister must dismiss him from the Cabinet with immediate effect and then he should be arrested,” he demanded.
BJP leaders Manjinder Singh Sirsa urged Punjab Governor to immediately dismiss Kataruchak and also direct the police to take action against the culprit as per law “as person sexually assaulted by him has already come forward and has filed a criminal complaint with National SC Commission regarding his exploitation done by Lal Chand Kataruchak”.
Lashing out at Chief Minister Mann, Sirsa said that it was shocking to note that even after learning about videos of exploitation being submitted to the Punjab Governor, he kept on defending the accused and denied having any such video. “He should be ashamed of himself for defending a person who is accused of sexually exploiting a minor boy. Now when the victim has come forward and filed his complaint with the National SC Commission, the Chief Minister should himself recommend dismissal of the Minister besides ordering the arrest of the accused,” he added.