The Punjab and Haryana high court recently granted regular bail to a former MLA from Ludhiana district accused of rape.

Simarjeet Singh Bains, who is chief of Lok Insaaf Party, had surrendered before the court in July 2022 in connection with a rape case filed in 2021.

The rape accused was given a hero’s welcome by his supporters with music and songs outside the Barnala jail on Friday (10 February), a video of which was circulated on social media.

As per a report, a massive roadshow was arranged from Barnala to Ludhiana via Rajkot for him. Slogans of “Babbar Sher Aa Gaya” (the roaring lion is back) and hoardings saying “Punjab Di Buland Awaaz — jee Ayaya Nu (the bold voice of Punjab — welcome) greeted Bains till his home.   

The court asked the rape accused to surrender weapons, firearms, ammunition and arms license within 15 days of the release, and put the condition that he would not contact the victim or her family in any way.  

The Case

In November 2020, a woman sat outside the Ludhiana police commissioner’s office for several hours, demanding a police case against Bains and six others, namely Kamaljit Singh, Baljinder Kaur, Jasbir Kaur, Sukhchain Singh, Paramjit Singh alias Pamma and Gogi Sharma. 

The 44-year-old alleged that Bains and his accomplices repeatedly raped her in 2020 after she approached him for help in a property dispute matter.

The case was filed after the woman moved a local court seeking directions to file an FIR. The accused were booked for rape, outraging modesty of a woman, sexual harassment, criminal intimidation and conspiracy at Division number 6 police station.

In July 2022, Simarjeet Bains surrendered before a local court following the Supreme Court orders.

Bains has been two-time MLA from Adam Nagar of Ludhiana. He has maintained that the rape case against him is false and is a political conspiracy by the “Badal” family.

Hero's Welcome To Rape Accused

The custom of giving a hero’s welcome to high profile rape accused is, unfortunately, a common practice.

In April, a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana pulled up the defence counsel in a rape case where the accused, after being given bail by a high court, was greeted with hoardings saying, “Bhaiya is back”. The accused was a student leader. 

The apex court cancelled the bail over the celebratory hoardings. 

Here are some cases in recent past of high profile rape accused getting hero’s welcome after getting bail:

-Roman Catholic bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun, was given a hero’s welcome from Church-related people in Jalandhar, after he was granted bail by a Kerala court in 2018. He had held charge as the bishop of Jalandhar diocese.

-In 2020, former Union Minister and BJP leader Chinmayanand was given a grand welcome by his supporters after he was granted bail by the Allahabad high court and walked out of Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district jail.

-In August, 11 convicts in a rape case of a Gujarat woman named Bilkis Bano were given a grand welcome by Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists. They had served more than 15 years of prison before being let off under the Gujarat government’s remission policy.