Chandigarh: During the heated anger and protests in Punjab over the death of a 14-year-old who was molested and then thrown from a moving bus, another woman was allegedly harassed on a private bus in Khanna on Sunday.
The woman passenger was allegedly harassed by the man sitting next to her, when she complained, the bus driver and conductor, instead of helping her, allegedly let the man escape. The woman then called the police helpline.
“I was molested. I asked for help but the conductor and driver didn’t help me. They didn’t even stop the bus,” the woman said.
The police tracked down the bus and arrested the driver and conductor, but the man who allegedly harassed the woman is still missing.
The state’s Akali Dal government has been facing protests after the teen’s death after being molested on a private bus linked to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s family. Mr Badal’s son and deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal owns shares in the bus company Orbit Aviation, which has now been taken off roads on the government’s orders.
The opposition has called a shutdown on Monday  and demanded an inquiry against all private buses.
The teen’s relatives had refused to cremate her for four days until they relented on Sunday and also accepted Rs. 30 lakh as compensation from the government, in a compromise that the Chief Minister himself oversaw.