Patiala, October 19, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Congress leader and former Ludhiana MLA Simarjit Singh Bains has been convicted in a criminal defamation case filed by senior Congress leader and former Punjab minister Brahm Mohindra.
The Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Patiala, sentenced Bains to one year’s imprisonment in the case arising from allegations of corruption levelled against Mohindra in 2018.
The case dates back to June 2018, when Bains, then an MLA and leader of the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), accused Mohindra, who was serving as Punjab’s Health Minister, of corruption and irregularities in the Health Department and the functioning of drug de-addiction centres.
Allegations That Led to Defamation Case
Bains had alleged that Mohindra maintained links with, or had financial interests in, a pharmaceutical company named Arbour Biotech.
He further claimed that an official in the state mental health cell, allegedly appointed on Mohindra’s recommendation, was pressuring approximately 80 drug de-addiction centres across Punjab to purchase medicines from the company at inflated prices.
Bains had also alleged that conditions in drug procurement tenders were manipulated to benefit the pharmaceutical company.
At the time, he wrote to then-Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and the Congress leadership, seeking Mohindra’s removal from the Cabinet and a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the alleged irregularities.
Mohindra strongly denied the allegations, describing them as baseless, and initiated criminal defamation proceedings against Bains under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Patiala court has now convicted Bains in the case and awarded him a one-year jail sentence.
Mohit Mohindra Welcomes Verdict
Welcoming the judgment, Mohit Mohindra, former president of the Punjab Youth Congress and son of Brahm Mohindra, said his father had maintained an unblemished political career spanning more than five decades.
He said the allegations levelled against his father were frivolous and without substance, prompting the former minister to seek legal recourse to protect his reputation.
Mohit Mohindra maintained that the legal battle was intended to establish that political rivalry did not give anyone the right to make baseless allegations against a person with an upright public record.
He described the court’s decision as a landmark judgment.
Simarjit Bains’ Political Career
Simarjit Singh Bains first emerged as a prominent political figure in Ludhiana after winning the Atam Nagar Assembly constituency as an Independent candidate.
He subsequently established the Lok Insaaf Party, which contested elections but failed to achieve the political success its leadership had anticipated. Bains, his brother and several other candidates fielded by the party suffered electoral defeats.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bains joined the Congress and supported the campaign of then Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring in Ludhiana.
Raja Warring went on to win the parliamentary constituency, defeating BJP candidate and former Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu.
Bains has remained politically close to Raja Warring and continues to be regarded as an aspirant for the Congress ticket from the Atam Nagar Assembly constituency in the 2027 Punjab elections.
The conviction comes at a time when Bains is seeking to consolidate his political position within the Congress ahead of the next Assembly elections.
Details regarding any suspension of the sentence, grant of bail or proposed appeal against the conviction were not immediately available.
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