Bathinda, October 14
The police have registered an FIR against two persons and arrested them in connection with the controversial beauty competition where the organisers had pasted posters in different parts of the city inviting girls to take part in the contest, saying that the winner would be offered a chance to get married to an NRI based in Canada.
What the police say
The suspects are relatives of Canada-based NRI. They were looking for a suitable match for him. We are trying to find out if there is a group involved in it. J Elanchezhian, Bathinda SSP
Report sought
Minister Baljit Kaur ordered the Social Security, Women and Child Development Department Director to submit a report in the matterShe asked the DC to take strict action under Section 4, Indecent Representation of Women (Management) Act
In the posters, the venue of the event was mentioned as the Sweet Milan hotel and the date October 23.
The owners of the Hotel Sweet Milan organised a press conference and claimed that they had nothing to do with the event.
SSP J Elanchezhian, said, “According to preliminary investigation in the case, it has been learnt that the suspects are relatives of the NRI based in Canada, who were looking for a suitable match for him. They have been arrested and are being questioned. We are trying to find out if there is a group involved in it.”
The president of the Hotel Restaurant and Resorts Association, Punjab, Satish Arora, said, “We condemn it and want to clarify that there was no involvement of the hotel owners in this matter.”
Jagdish Grover, one of the hotel owners, said, “It may be a conspiracy to malign the image of our hotel. Whenever there is any event or function in our hotel, there is a proper agreement between us and those who want to book the hotel. However, you can see there is no entry in our register of such an event. This is an unfortunate episode and we condemn it. We are even considering filing a defamation suit in the matter.”
Parminder Singh, SHO of the Kotwali police station, said, “We have arrested the suspects who had put up these posters. We are investigating the matter. We have checked the hotel records and did not find any booking for such an event on the date mentioned on the posters.”
