Pregnant woman survives canal attack by family in Punjab's Muktsar

A 22-year-old woman who was allegedly thrown into a canal by her family in Punjab's Muktsar district is recovering in Gidderbaha Civil Hospital, where she remains fearful for the child she is carrying. Amanpreet Kaur, five months pregnant, has been under treatment since the morning of September 7, when she says her father and cousins pushed her into the Rajasthan Feeder Canal and left her for dead.

Recounting the episode, Amanpreet said her father and two cousins looked around to make sure no one was watching before pushing her into the water. She said she heard one of them remark that she was gone, after which the group left. Unable to swim, she thrashed about and managed to grab hold of a wild plant, clinging to it for roughly 20 to 25 minutes while staying hidden. She said she feared that if they had seen her alive, they would not have spared her. Her husband, Satnam Singh, 30, sits beside her in the hospital with his head bandaged and a cut across his hand from the attack on him.

After her assailants left, Amanpreet crawled out of the canal, slipping several times as she climbed up. She approached a man and asked to use his phone. He told her he could not make outgoing calls but went to inform the sarpanch of Middukhera, who in turn called the police and an ambulance.

Muktsar Senior Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Rana said six men have been booked on charges of attempt to murder and kidnapping: Amanpreet's father Baljeet Singh, her younger brother Noorpreet, her cousins Lovepreet, Sukhpreet and Novalpreet, and an alleged accomplice, Lovesh. Novalpreet is in custody, while the others are absconding, the SSP said.

Amanpreet believes the attack was provoked by her pregnancy and by her family's refusal to accept her marriage to Satnam, whom she describes as a Mazhabi Sikh. The couple, both from Karaiwala village in Muktsar, say they fell in love five years ago. Amanpreet said Satnam first became a friend and then a best friend, and that a key reason for her affection was that he never touched any intoxicant, unlike one of her own brothers. When she told her family about him, she said, her parents withdrew her from school after Class 10 and kept her at home. She completed her Class 12 through correspondence. Her father, she said, made clear he would never allow her to be with Satnam.

Satnam said the two married in secret at a temple in Muktsar on December 1, 2023. They continued to live separately at their respective homes for some months before approaching the Punjab and Haryana High Court in August 2024, seeking police protection from Amanpreet's family. Amanpreet told police she wanted to live with Satnam, while her family said she was dead to them. The couple then moved to Chandigarh, where Satnam worked as a security guard and Amanpreet as a saleswoman at a store.

They returned to the village in November 2024 after facing health and financial difficulties in Chandigarh. According to Satnam, the High Court order and police warnings to Amanpreet's family to stay away reassured them. Gidderbaha DSP Jatinder Singh said that on September 7, 2024, the couple recorded statements before police saying they faced no threat, did not need gunmen and did not want further proceedings on their High Court writ. He said everything had been peaceful for nearly two years.

Amanpreet said the trouble returned on the night of September 6, when she and Satnam were about to have dinner. She alleged that Noorpreet, Novalpreet, Lovepreet, Sukhpreet and Lovesh entered Satnam's house armed with rods and weapons and began assaulting her husband. She said they were prepared to shoot, and that her mother-in-law was also beaten when she intervened. Amanpreet said she was dragged out by the hair and forced into a car.

She said the group drove to her parental home, where her father Baljeet joined them. They pressured her to give a statement accusing Satnam of consuming drugs and beating her, and to seek a divorce. When she refused, she said, her father tried to strangle her but one of her cousins stopped him, saying she should not be killed that way. The group then drove to Malout and stayed the night at an uncle's house, she said. The next morning, around 7 am, they took her to the canal. She quoted them as saying there was no point keeping her alive since she would not change her statement. Three of them got out of the vehicle, grabbed her and threw her into the water, she said.

Karaiwala village sarpanch Gurjit Singh said police called him the night Amanpreet was taken away, but he had already gone to sleep. He suggested her family may have acted in anger, saying villagers told him the family was provoked by Satnam, who allegedly went to their house drunk and shouted that they were going to become an uncle. Satnam denied the claim, saying he had not visited their house in two years.

Amanpreet said her father had called her on Raksha Bandhan on August 28, asking her to come home and tie a rakhi to her brothers. She said she was happy at the time, as she is the only daughter in the family, but Satnam stopped her from going because he sensed something was wrong. She questioned how a father could fail to think of his daughter's unborn child.