Daler Mehndi gets jail in 2003 human trafficking case

In Punjab, a Patiala court on Thursday announced a two-year-jail term for Punjabi singer Daler Mehendi in a human trafficking case that dates back to 2003. The court dismissed the plea and the singer was arrested and sent to jail. Singer Daler Mehndi's appeal against a two-year jail term in a 2003 case of human trafficking — for taking people abroad by showing them as troupe members — was dismissed by a district court in Patiala on Thursday and he was taken into custody.  The court pronounced Daler Mehendi guilty and the judgement was announced. A total of 31 cases have been filed against Daler Mehndi and his brother Shamsher Singh.

They were charged under Indian Penal Code's sections for human trafficking and conspiracy besides the Indian Passport Act. Both got two-year jail terms from a judicial magistrate's court in 2018, but were released on bail and filed appeals. The case was registered at the Patiala Sadar police station, alleging that the Mehndi brothers took two troupes to the US in 1998 and 1999, during which 10 people were shown as group members to help them migrate. After this FIR by a man named Bakshish Singh, 31 more complaints came up against the brothers, as per reports. Three years later, the local police filed discharge petitions in the local court, saying that Daler Mehndi was innocent. But the court refused to discharge him, saying there was “sufficient evidence" for further investigation. It took another 12 years for the sentencing, and now four more for a decision on the appeal.