On September 10, 2025, Tarn Taran Additional Sessions Judge Prem Kumar convicted Khadoor Sahib AAP MLA Manjinder Singh Lalpura and 11 others in a 12-year-old case of molestation and assault of a girl during a wedding function in village Usma.
The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on September 12. Following the conviction, the police took all of them including AAP MLA into custody. Lalpura’s lawyers, however, said that their legal fight would continue.
The case dates back to March 3, 2013, when the woman was molested by the accused, including Lalpura, at a marriage palace on the Goindwal road in Tarn Taran. Notably, the girl was with with her father, an army veteran and other family members. There, some taxi drivers molested her, and when they resisted, they assaulted her and beat her family members.
The City Police Station officials, who reached the spot, also assaulted the girl and her family in broad daylight. A photographer recorded the entire incident on video.
The following day, the victim’s family, along with the video evidence, reached the City Police Station, Tarn Taran. The incident triggered widespread condemnation, prompting the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice and direct paramilitary force protection for the victim, her cousin Jagjit Singh (an eyewitness), her family members, and the then sarpanch of Usma village.
Then National Chairman of the SC Commission, Dr Rajkumar Verka, also took cognizance of the matter. Eventually, case number 59/13 was registered at the City Police Station, naming taxi driver Harvinder Singh Shoshi and Sahba (now Khadoor Sahib MLA Manjinder Singh Lalpura) in the FIR.
Those convicted in the case also includes eight policemen. One of them, Head Constable Paramjit Singh, died during the course of the trial. The charges were registered under Sections 354, 323, 506, 148, and 149 of the IPC, along with provisions of the SC/ST Act.
Fifth AAP MLA to be arrested
The Khadoor Sahib MLA is the fifth AAP legislator in Punjab to be arrested by the state police and Vigilance Bureau.
The vigilance bureau had earlier arrested former health minister and Mansa MLA Vijay Singla for corruption in May 2022, while Bathinda Rural AAP MLA Amit Rattan Kotfatta was caught by the vigilance bureau in a corruption case on February 23, 2023.
On May 24 this year, the vigilance bureau arrested Jalandhar Central MLA Raman Arora in a corruption case that also involved a municipal corporation official.
Sanaur AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra was also arrested in a rape case before he escaped from police custody on September 2.
