Balwant Garg
Faridkot, August 11
About four years after the Faridkot district administration had auctioned 4.6 acres of agricultural land of a rape convict to pay Rs 90 lakh as compensation to the minor rape victim from the sale of land, the Supreme Court has allowed the convict and his mother to re-purchase the property for Rs 99 lakh.
On August 31, 2018, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the Faridkot administration to recover Rs 90 lakh as fine from culprit Nishan Singh. Though the Revenue Department had given a public notice for the auction, no bidder reached the auction. Then, the land was sold to District Red Cross Society for Rs 91 lakh on November 13, 2018.
This land was fetching no income to the Red Cross after the convict had approached the apex court and the court issued directions that there should be no change in the status and nature of the land till further orders.
Recently, Nishan Singh and his mother Navjot Kaur expressed their desire to re-purchase the property and agreed to pay an additional sum of Rs 8 lakh towards the interest amount to the Red Cross. The Red Cross also agreed to the proposal.
So, the Supreme Court allowed the rape convict and his mother to buy back the property and ordered them to pay Rs 99 lakh in three equal instalments to the Red Cross Society, Faridkot.
While the first instalment of Rs 33 lakh was paid to the Red Cross on Wednesday, the next two instalments would be paid on or before October 31 and December 31, 2022 respectively.
On the receipt of all instalments, the Red Cross will execute the necessary sale deed conveying the property to Nishan Singh and his mother. They would bear the expenses of the registration in this sale transaction, ordered the SC.
In this rape case that had led to massive public protests in Faridkot in 2012, the sessions court of Faridkot had convicted Nishan Singh and nine of his accomplices, including his mother, in the case in May 2013. While Nishan Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment, nine others, including Nishan’s mother, were awarded seven-year imprisonment. Nishan Singh is still languishing in jail, but his mother was released on bail by the Supreme Court in May 2019.