Addressing the demonstrators Brinda Karat strongly opposed the setting up of an inquiry committee into the incident. She said it was an effort to whitewash the crime and help the minister’s son. Rape is a cognisable offence. In the rape of a minor where the medical report confirms rape and where the accused has been identified any further inquiry is not only unwarranted but it is a subversion of justice. The message for the women of Punjab, she said, is that rape is not a crime if the rapist is a minister’s son.

The district commissioner Shri Arun Goel and the SSP Smt. Gurdeep Kaur found it hard to explain to the delegation why exactly the inquiry had been ordered and why the culprits had not been arrested. It was clear from their statements that orders had come from the chief minister himself to delay the arrests. The victim’s father pointed out that for three days they had been under pressure to withdraw the complain. The most shameful information was that the father of the accused Gurdev Singh had camped in Ludhiana for three days to ensure that his son was not named. These facts were brought before the DC. After heated discussion the DC and the SSP assured the demonstrators that the guilty would be arrested. According to the SSP raids have been conducted to arrest the accused. The AIDWA Punjab president Surjeet Kumari announced that if the criminals were not arrested women would launch a massive protest throughout the state.