In what comes as an important decision, the Delhi court acquitted Sarvjeet Singh Bedi in the now infamous Jasleen Kaur case. Sarvjeet was accused of molesting and abusing Aam Aadmi Party’s student wing, i.e. CYSS volunteer Jasleen Kaur at a traffic roundabout in New Delhi.
Deepika Narayan Bharadwaj, an independent journalist popular for her support towards men’s rights posted the following post on her Twitter account –
Four years. Endless dates. Endless humiliation & suffering for him & his family by media & society.
BUT FINALLY
@Sarvjee36046032 HAS WON THE CASE IN HIS FAVOR. ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES by COURT. #SarvjeetSingh #JasleenKaur pic.twitter.com/PP23WQot2H
— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) October 24, 2019
She mentioned in her tweet, “Four years. Endless Dates. Endless humiliation and suffering for him and his family by media and society. But Finally, Sarvjeet has won the case in his favor. Acquitted of all Charges by Court.”
Sarvjeet Singh himself wrote an emotional Facebook post, as shown below –
“The Verdict is out. I am ACQUITTED!
I wish to thank Waheguru ji for keeping His eye on me, and all of you for your tremendous support. My friends and well-wishers made it possible.
Most of all, my mother who stood by me like a pillar. Her faith in me was the major driving force that made me see each day with courage.
And of course, Shikha Khanduja Kaul who has guided me through this. She is like an elder sister I never had. The book she has written on my case will be out soon!”
On 23 August 2015, Sarvjeet and Jasleen had a scuffle, following which Jasleen had threatened him of dire consequences. Subsequently, she uploaded a Facebook post, alleging that Sarvjeet had molested him, and threatened her of dire consequences. Following the accusation, people reacted almost immediately to the same, without even analyzing the case rationally.
Times Now had a special contribution in making Jasleen the heroine of this story and Sarvjeet as the villain. Arnab Goswami, then working with Times Now, declared Sarvjeet as the serial molester in his own media trial. Arvind Kejriwal also congratulated Jasleen and labelled her as the inspiration for the girls of Delhi. This is not all, the then commissioner of Delhi Police, BS Bassi, had also announced a reward of Rs. 5000 rupees as a reward for Jasleen Kaur.
But the longer the case progressed; the public became aware of the reality about the case. While more and more people turned out in support of Sarvjeet, Jasleen did not even attend most of her trials, forget keeping her stance clear. Sarvjeet had to not only attend all his trials but also face innumerable questions from both the media and society.
Now that Sarvjeet has been declared innocent, the question arises: Can Sarvjeet get back his lost four years? Can he be relieved of the title of the ‘molester’, imposed forcefully on him by the opportunistic reporters? Can he lead a normal life? Akshaye Khanna’s character in ‘Section 375’, which focused on such false cases, had observed that such cases are like a nail in the coffin of a genuine victim.
Sarvjeet wasn’t the only person who had to face humiliation due to the false case. In Rohtak, video of two girls went viral in which they were seen beating up three young men, who had allegedly molested them. The then Haryana CM, Manohar Lal Khattar had even announced a bravery award for the two girls. However, he had to withhold his order soon when the case turned out to be false.
To be honest, cases like Sarvjeet Singh signify the way how some opportunistic people misuse the very law meant to protect genuine victims. Not everyone is as courageous as Sarvjeet and if we don’t learn from the same, a day might come when the crimes of rape and molestation will become mere jokes due to the false cases.
