Day after sentencing, Punjab minister Jagir Kaur resigns

A day after a court convicted and sentenced her to a five-year jail term in connection with her daughter's abduction, senior Punjab Minister Bibi Jagir Kaur resigned on Saturday citing "moral grounds".

Kaur, 57, sent her resignation letter to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who forwarded it to the Punjab governor for its acceptance with immediate effect.

A spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said Bibi Jagir Kaur resigned as cabinet Minister on moral grounds following her conviction by a special CBI Court.

Kaur, who held the portfolios of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation and Defence Services Welfare, was convicted and sentenced to five years' imprisonment by a CBI court in Patiala for conspiring in the forcible abortion and abduction in connection with the mysterious death of her teenaged daughter Harpreet Kaur 12 years ago.

The senior Punjab minister, who was the lone woman member in the 18-member Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP ministry sworn in earlier in March, was acquitted of the murder charge.

She has been lodged in a jail in Kapurthala district.