Punjab polls| From rape to attempt to murder, Bains booked in 15 cases
Bains has been booked for a wide array of offences in Ludhiana, Patiala, Mohali and Jalandhar s include rape, attempt to murder, violating Covid protocols, robbery, criminal intimidation
Strap: The two-time MLAs litany of offences include violating Covid protocols, robbery, criminal intimidation, restoring power connections, defamation, disobeying public servant’s order, assaulting public servant
Atam Nagar MLA Simarjit Singh Bains is no stranger to controversy. Even as the din over the rape charges against him grows louder, the Lok Insaaf Party chief has 15 first-information reports filed against him at police stations across the state.
Bains himself admits to as much in the affidavit he submitted with his nomination papers for the Punjab assembly polls on January 28. The legislator has been booked for a wide array of offences in Ludhiana, Patiala, Mohali and Jalandhar. His alleged offences include rape, attempt to murder, violating Covid protocols, robbery, criminal intimidation, restoring power connections snapped by authorities over pending dues, defamation, disobedience of the order issued by public servant, and assaulting or using criminal force against a public servant among others.
The LIP leader was booked in six cases in 2017, the count rose to eight in 2019 when Bains filed nominations for the Lok Sabha polls. Now, the cases against him stand at 15.
Am being targeted by govt, Oppn: Bains
Bains, who will be contesting elections for the third time in the upcoming Punjab polls, has refuted the allegations levelled against him, alleging that he was being targeted by the government and the Opposition for voicing the concerns of the people. On the rape allegations against him, the MLA claims that it was an attempt to malign his image ahead of the Punjab assembly elections.
In 2009, Bains was booked for a murder bid on the tehsildar, major Gurjinder Singh Benipal (retired), at his office on June 19. Congress leader Kamaljit Singh Karwal, who was then a close aide of Bains, has also been booked in the same FIR. Interestingly, Karwal is now contesting against Bains from the Atam Nagar assembly segment.
In July 2021, the legislator was booked for allegedly raping a woman after the complainant staged a sit-in protest outside the police commissioner’s office, seeking his arrest. The case is pending in a local court.
In 2016, Bains, his son and seven other supporters were arrested and sent to jail after a protest against a cable network operator allegedly turned violent on Ferozepur Road.
7 cases against Bains since Covid outbreak
Seven FIRs were lodged against Bains after March 2020, when the Covid pandemic broke out. He has been booked under Section 188 (disobeying a public servant), and sections of the Disaster Management Act and Epidemic Diseases Act.
Bains and his supporters were also booked for trespassing and deterring a public servant after they forcefully entered the Passport Sewa Kendra along with armed gunmen in April 2018. A local court had acquitted Bains in the case in October 2021.