Punjab Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Harmit Singh Pathanmajra, wanted in a rape case and missing for over two months, has reportedly surfaced in Australia after evading police action in India. In a video interview given to an Australia-based Punjabi web channel, the Sanour legislator said he would “return to Punjab only after obtaining bail,” while rejecting all charges levelled against him.
Calling the case a “politically motivated conspiracy,” Pathanmajra alleged that dissenting voices within the party were being targeted. “In Punjab, ministers and MLAs are not consulted on major issues. Freedom of speech is being restricted. After losing in Delhi, those leaders have taken control of Punjab and are damaging it the same way,” he said, adding that he had full faith in the judiciary, according to a national wire service.
The MLA has managed to evade arrest despite multiple raids at locations linked to him. The Patiala Police earlier issued a lookout notice, and a Patiala court has already begun proclaimed offender proceedings after his repeated failure to appear in connection with the case.
Pathanmajra, a first-time MLA, escaped police custody in September when a Punjab Police team reached Haryana’s Karnal district to arrest him. Officers claimed the team came under gunfire and stone-pelting by his supporters at Dabri village, where he was staying at a relative’s home. The MLA, however, denied firing any shots and alleged he fled after learning that he was being targeted for a “fake encounter.”
The FIR against him, filed on September 1 at Patiala’s Civil Lines police station, includes charges of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation. A Zirakpur-based woman has accused him of misrepresenting himself as divorced, entering into a relationship with her, marrying her in 2021 while already married, and later subjecting her to continued sexual exploitation, threats and the sending of objectionable material.
