Punjab news: An AAP MLA from Punjab (Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra) has been booked for rape and has fled to Australia. He has vowed to return home only after securing bail. He has been booked under Sections 376, 420, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. He escaped from police custody amidst gunfire, evaded the police for two months, and is now live-streaming from abroad, claiming a “political conspiracy.”
The absconding AAP MLA from Sanaur, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, released a video while in hiding. He said, “I am an emotional person and I have always stood with Punjab.” He appealed to his fellow MLAs to support him and raise the issue in the Assembly. Pathanmajra also alleged that his family is being harassed by the administration.
Exclusive : Absconding AAP Sanaur MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra released a video while being underground. He said: “I am an emotional person and I have always stood by Punjab.” He urged his colleague MLAs to stand by him and raise the issue in the Vidhan Sabha. Pathanmajra also… pic.twitter.com/6lAsmeut3k
— Gagandeep Singh (@Gagan4344) September 26, 2025
This situation has proven to be a major embarrassment for the police, as the Sanaur MLA remained at large despite raids being conducted at several of his suspected hideouts.
Patiala police had already issued a look-out alert against the AAP leader. Posters with information about the Sanaur MLA were pasted outside his official residence, private home, and the Patiala bus stand.
Pathanmajra’s lawyers, Bikramjit Singh Bhullar and SS Saggu, had stated that they would soon approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the MLA’s anticipatory bail.
Pathanmajra appeared in a video interview on a Punjabi web channel based in Australia on Friday, in which he stated that he would “only return home when he gets bail.” Denying all the allegations, he termed the case a “political conspiracy” hatched to silence voices speaking for the people of Punjab.
He alleged, “Ministers and MLAs in Punjab are not consulted on important matters. Freedom of speech is being snatched away. After losing in Delhi, those leaders have now taken over Punjab, and they are ruining it in the same way,” while expressing complete faith in the judiciary.
A Patiala magistrate court has initiated proceedings to declare Pathanmajra a proclaimed offender after he failed to appear in court in connection with the rape charges.
Pathanmajra, a first-time MLA, had earlier managed to evade police custody when the Punjab Police went to Karnal in Haryana to arrest him.
Police later claimed that when a team went to arrest him at Dabri village in Karnal district, where he was staying at a relative’s house, the leader’s supporters fired shots and pelted stones.
However, Pathanmajra denied any involvement in the firing and claimed he fled after sensing that he would be killed in a “fake encounter.” Police had registered a formal case against the AAP MLA on September 1 at the Civil Lines police station in Patiala on several charges, including rape, fraud, and criminal intimidation.
The case was registered following a complaint by a woman from Zirakpur. The woman alleged that the MLA introduced himself as divorced, started a relationship with her, and then married another woman in 2021, while he was already married. She also accused the MLA of continuously sexually exploiting her, threatening her, and sending her “obscene” material.
(With agency inputs)