Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi gets bail in human trafficking case

Chandigarh, Sep 15: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday suspended the jail term of Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi, who was convicted by a Patiala court in a 2003 human trafficking case.

The single bench of Justice G S Gill suspended the sentence of Mehndi who was sentenced to two years in jail in the case.

Mehndi's counsel Arshdeep Singh Cheema said the high court ordered the sentence be suspended in the matter.

Mehndi had moved the high court in July after the Patiala court upheld his two-year sentence, awarded in March 2018 by the trial court, in the human trafficking case.

The singer had filed a revision petition before the high court against his conviction after the court of additional sessions judge in Patiala on July 14 had dismissed his appeal against the 2018 order of the trial court. He was then sent to the Patiala jail.

Daler Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Singh had been accused of illegally sending people abroad disguised as members of his troupe by charging hefty "passage money".

It was also alleged that the Mehndi brothers took two troupes in 1998 and 1999 during the course of which 10 persons were taken to the US as group members and "dropped off" illegally.

A Patiala court in March 2018 had sentenced Mehndi to two years in jail in the 2003 human trafficking case. A fine of Rs 1,000 was also imposed on him. Mehndi was then released on a bail bond.

The human trafficking case was registered on October 19, 2003, following a complaint by one Bakshish Singh, a resident of Balvera village in Patiala besides 35 more complaints who later came up.

In his complaint, Singh had alleged that he was cheated and duped by the Mehndi brothers on the pretext of sending him abroad as a member of pop singer's troupe.

Over 30 more complaints, levelling charges of fraud against the brothers, also came up later.

"Daler Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Mehndi took Rs 13 lakh from me to send me to Canada. Neither did they send me abroad, nor did they return my money. At that time they used to do this work of sending people abroad," said Bakshish Singh.