Punjab MLA’s Dramatic Escape: AAP Legislator Evades Arrest in Rape Case After Criticising Leadership
In a scene fit for a political thriller, AAP MLA from Sanour, Harmit Singh Pathanmajra, allegedly staged a dramatic escape from a Punjab Police team in Haryana on Tuesday, hours after being booked in a serious rape case.
The incident has ignited a firestorm of allegations, counter-allegations, and a bitter war of words, exposing deep fissures within the ruling party and the state’s administration.
The police team, which had travelled to the MLA’s relatives’ village in Karnal, Haryana, to apprehend him, was met with resistance.
According to police sources, residents did not allow the arrest, leading to a major commotion during which gunshots were allegedly fired. In the ensuing chaos, Pathanmajra managed to flee the spot in a white SUV.
A police official was reportedly injured in the incident, and the Punjab Police are now seeking Haryana’s assistance to register a separate case against the MLA for firing at and injuring an officer.
The Genesis of the Case: A Ten-Year Allegation
The controversy stems from a First Information Report (FIR) registered at Patiala’s Civil Lines police station late Monday night.
The complainant, a woman claiming to be Pathanmajra’s ex-wife, has accused the MLA of a decade-long cycle of abuse, alleging offences of rape, cheating, and criminal intimidation from February 2014 to June 2024 under IPC sections 376, 420, and 506.
AAP’s Stance: Zero Tolerance or Political Vendetta?
AAP spokesperson Baltej Pannu confirmed the MLA’s initial detention and subsequent escape, adding that arms were recovered from his vehicle.
Pannu presented the party’s official narrative, stating that the complainant had been in a relationship with Pathanmajra since 2021, a union he had even declared in his election affidavit.
The spokesperson alleged that when the woman recently threatened police action, a panicked Pathanmajra, anticipating the party’s “zero tolerance” policy towards crime, corruption, and character, resorted to an “attention diversionary tactic” by aggressively criticising the government over the recent floods.
Pannu further claimed the MLA tried to intimidate the complainant by threatening to leak objectionable videos. The party has yet to decide on disciplinary action against him.
The MLA’s Defence: A Frame-Up and “Kabaddi Game”
Pathanmajra and his legal team have vehemently denied the charges, framing the FIR as a direct retaliation for his recent outbursts.
His lawyer, Advocate Simranjit Singh Saggu, called the arrest unlawful, citing a pending High Court matter, and described the case as a “tug of war between bureaucracy and MLAs.”
In a video statement released Tuesday morning, a defiant Pathanmajra stated, “I will not take this lying down.”
He escalated the conflict dramatically in a television interview, claiming to possess “sexually explicit videos of AAP leaders from Delhi” and alleging that the party strong-arms its MLAs by holding pre-signed resignation letters to ensure compliance.
He called upon fellow legislators and workers to protest, ominously suggesting he could “do a coup.”
This dramatic claim follows his sharp criticism of Krishan Kumar, Principal Secretary of Water Resources, whom he publicly held responsible for the state’s floods.
In a fiery statement on Sunday, Pathanmajra had even threatened to “bury [Kumar] in a ditch” if he interfered with local river desilting efforts.
The dramatic escape of the MLA is not just a flight from the law, but a symbol of a deepening political crisis where serious criminal allegations are intertwined with a brutal power struggle, leaving the truth buried in the mudslinging.
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