Former Punjab minister Jagir Kaur out on 28-day parole

Kapurthala: Four months after her arrest, former Punjab Minister Bibi Jagir Kaur was on Wednesday released on parole from Kapurthala jail, where she was lodged after being convicted of various criminal offences against her teenaged daughter.

Kaur was sentenced to five years imprisonment by a CBI court in Patiala for forcing her daughter Harpreet Kaur to abort - who later died under mysterious circumstances.

"Kaur has been given parole for 28 days. She came out of jail today and left with her son-in-law to Begowal village," Kapurthala Jail Superintendent SP Khanna said.

Harpreet, Kaur\'s 19-year-old daughter, had died under mysterious circumstances during the intervening night of April 20 and 21, 2000.

Kaur also furnished a bail bond Rs 50,000 to Kapurthala district magistrate, he said.

On July 18, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted a day's interim bail to Kaur, to enable her to cast vote in the Presidential poll.

The main opposition Congress in Punjab had earlier accused jail authorities of giving VIP treatment to Kaur in jail.

Harpreet, Kaur's 19-year-old daughter, had died under mysterious circumstances during the intervening night of April 20 and 21, 2000.

No postmortem was conducted after her family claimed there was no foul play and that Harpreet had died due to severe dehydration, vomiting and fever. She was cremated at Kaur's native Begowal village in Kapurthala.

On March 30, Kaur was given a five-year sentence under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and other charges and was also fined Rs 5,000 by the special CBI court.

The 57-year-old minister, who was the lone woman face in the Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP government, was forced to resign as minister after her conviction.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)