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 Five years after she brought "shame" to her village and family
in Punjab's green hinterland by being caught in Portugal with
mafia don Abu Salem, former actress Monica Bedi might get a guarded
welcome in her ancestral village Chhabewal. With two court cases of
passport forgery going in her favour in recent months, relatives of
the woman, known as Salem's moll, expect her to return to
Chabbewal, 10 km from here on the highway to Chandigarh.
"I am leaving for Hyderabad. I will consult her lawyer there.
Her father Prem is also reaching Hyderabad. We will decide the next
course of action after securing her release," Monica's uncle
Purshottam Bedi said Tuesday.
Monica, who faces a three-year sentence in one of the cases against
her, may have to spend over a month in prison before she is able to
walk free forever.
But her lawyers are seeking an exemption from the court in
Hyderabad on the ground that she spent time in prison in Lisbon
before her extradition to India and want that period to be counted
in her term here.
The Bedi family in the village, which is reasonably well off in
this part of Punjab that has almost a member of every family who
has gone to seek fortunes abroad, expects that Monica will be
spending time in the family house here "as she has nowhere else to
go".
"Where else will she go?" asked her uncle as he and other relatives
prepare to welcome the infamous daughter back home. Her uncle had
disowned her after she was arrested in 2002.
However, other residents of the village, with a population of
around 5,000 and where everyone knows everyone else, are a bit
sceptical of her return.
"She brought bad name to our village because of her links with Abu
Salem. Now she has been let off in the court cases. I don't know
exactly how to react but we will not disassociate with her now.
Maybe she has changed and needs us now," a senior village resident,
unwilling to be identified so as not to upset the Bedi family, told
a visiting IANS correspondent.
Monica's uncle, who with other family members had migrated to
Norway two years ago, returned to the village five months back.
The former Bollywood star, who was once cast with stars like Sanjay
Dutt and Govinda, was born Jan 18, 1975 in Chabbewal. Her father
Prem Bedi, a registered medical practitioner in the village then,
migrated to Norway with his family when she was only a few months
old.
Monica had visited the village in 1998 for a few days during the
marriage of her brother Bobby. Many people from the area came to
see her then because of her Bollywood connection.
The Bedi family still has agriculture land in the village. Last
year, a sect of Nihang (warrior) Sikhs from Tarna Dal had
volunteered to help Monica in fighting her legal battles and had
even offered to provide her physical security.
By Jaideep Sarin
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