CHANDIGARH:”The Supreme Court judgment ordering the prosecution of K.P.S. Gill, Director General of Police, Punjab, for attempting to outrage my modesty is a slap in the face of the functionaries of the Punjab Government, who at every step tried to block the paths of justice and con- done the DGP’s behavior. As far as I am concerned, I have won at last,” said Mrs. Rupan Deol Bajaj in an interview.

The Chief Minister, Harcharan Singh Brar’s only reaction was “no comments.” Senior government officials, on condition of anonymity, said the law would take its own course. The) state government would avoid any contempt of court. Gill, when contacted by some media persons earlier in the day, refused to comment.

In the home of Mrs. Bajaj, it was comments all the way with her husband, B.R. Bajaj, coming down strongly against everyone who had condoned Gill’s action. “It is a victory not just for me but for all women and especially working women, who are exposed to such gender-specific offences,” said a smiling Mrs. Bajaj. while wiping a tear as she related the trials and tribulations she had to face. The interview was interrupted a number of times as she answered the telephone to give comments to national and international media persons. Relating the events of that fateful evening of July 18, 1988, when Gill had allegedly slapped her on the back side in a party thrown by S.L. Kapur, then Financial Commissioner (Home). Mrs. Bajaj, said “it has been a very tough and trying period for over seven years where I had to face humiliation at every step for I was the woman had dared to protest against the misdemeanor of a man hailed as a national hero. But I kept up the fight with full support from my family as I could not have lived with the humiliation in silence.”

Mrs. Bajaj said that within a month and a half of lodging an FIR in Sector 17 police station, on July 29, 1988, she was sent on a ‘punitive transfer’ from Special Secretary (Finance) to the Managing Director of the State Institute for Public Administration Punjab. “Not just this, my name was taken off the Punjab Raj Bhawa mailing list, the public relations telephone list and the official gradation list. I was treated as an outcast.”

Mrs. Bajaj lashed out against S.S. Ray, the then Governor, Punjab, and current Ambassador to US, Kapur and R.P. Ojha, then Chief Secretary, “Mr. Ray told me that he had decided to forgive Mr. Gill this once and would take action if he did it again. And this, when there had earlier been five to six complaints of this nature against him. 1 reported the incident to Mr. Kapur within minutes but he chose to do nothing. Ojha told me that I was fortunate that I had got away with just a slap on the back and that I would be able to do nothing as Mr. Gill was draped in the national flag. The FIR was the last resort but that was dismissed as untraced.

All witnesses were intimidated and the High Court quashed the case as a ‘trivial offence’ to be accepted in general bonhomie and boisterousness of the occasion.

Mrs. Bajaj said the hearings at the Supreme Court and the judgment which had allowed the appeal by Mr. and Mrs. Bajaj against the exchange of notes between Mr. Ray and Mr. Julio Ribeiro, Advier to the Governor then. “I had lost all faith in the system of justice. But this verdict has revived my faith.”

Mrs. Bajaj is on leave till December but said that she would join after her promotion. She is the senior most officer for promotion to the post of Financial Commissioner.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 20, 1995