Stepmom faces court charges for hitting 5-year-old

CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh district court On Monday framed charges against a woman for stuffing her five-year-old stepdaughter in a gunny bag and thrashing her. Additional district and sessions judge Sanjiv Joshi framed charges under Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act against Jaspreet Kaur.
The next hearing in the matter is scheduled on June 1. This case was exclusively reported by the Times of India. The woman was arrested from a relative's house in Sector 27, Chandigarh on December 7, 2017, after a video of the incident shot by the victim's elder brother had gone viral.
As per the court's directions, section 308 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the IPC was added to the chargesheet, which mentions 25 witnesses including head constable Yashpal, sub-inspector Kulwinder Singh, SI Parmod Kumar, Child Welfare Comittee chairperson Sangita Vardhan, Rajnit Kaur of GMCH, Sector 32.
The matter dates to December 3 when the accused was booked by the police. As per the chargesheet, Kaur was residing in Sector 29 when her cruelty was recorded on a cellphone. In the video clip made by the girl's elder brother, Kaur was shown assaulting the girl after stuffing her in a jute bag and banging her on the floor repeatedly.
The FIR against Kaur was registered after taking legal opinion. The injured stepdaughter also narrated her ordeal to a child helpline counsellor. The father approached the Child Welfare Committee in Sector 19. The Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CCPCR) too had summoned the stepmother, her husband and the SHO concerned in the child thrashing case.
Girl's father Manmohan Singh had earlier claimed that his son made the video clip and handed it to him. He was taken aback to see the cruelty of his second wife towards his daughter from his first wife. His first wife had passed away two-and-a-half years back prior to the incident and Manmohan married Kaur in 2016.
He had filed a police complaint, seeking action against Kaur. While Singh has two children from his first wife, Kaur, a divorcee prior to marrying Singh, has a daughter from her first marriage.