ZZED Reporter
On Thursday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the execution of the two-year prison term handed down in 2018 to Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi for his conviction in human trafficking in 2003.
After the lower court in Patiala upheld the two-year prison sentence, he appealed to the high court on July 20.
In the words of his lawyer Arshdeep Singh Cheema, “His sentence has been suspended, which means that he will be out on bail, pending procedures before the high court.”
In accordance with Articles 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, Mehndi was found guilty (conspiracy).
The trial court had given him a two-year prison term and a fine of $2,000. As of the 14th of July, when the additional district sessions court had rejected Mehndi’s appeal, he was in custody and being kept in the Patiala jail. Earlier in 2018, he was convicted at trial.
After receiving a complaint from Balbera villager Bakshish Singh, the police in Patiala arrested Daler, his late brother Shamsher Mehndi, and two others. Bakshish claims that Mehndi spent $12 lakh to send him to Canada. Following the initial accusation, 35 other complaints alleging fraud were filed against the brothers. As the trial progressed, both Shamsher and Dhian Singh died, and the prosecution was unable to present sufficient evidence to convict Bulbul Mehta, a worker for Mehndi’s company.
Allegedly, the Mehndi brothers tried to help the complainants illegally enter the United States in exchange for “passage money,” but they failed.
Ten people were allegedly “dropped off” in the United States without proper paperwork when the Mehndi brothers visited in 1998 and 1999 with two different troupes.
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