Court bars Bains from entering passport offices sans prior nod

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I don’t need any weapons and would happily follow the rules. All these charges are to divert the attention from the corrupt system.

SIMARJEET SINGH BAINS,

Lok Insaaf Party leader

CHANDIGARH: A Ludhiana court has barred Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) legislator Simarjeet Singh Bains from entering any passport office without prior permission of the officials concerned.

The order has come in response to a civil petition filed by the regional passport office, Chandigarh, against the Atam Nagar MLA over an April 24 incident wherein he along with his gunmen and some 10-15 supporters allegedly barged into the passport seva kendra, Ludhiana, and created a ruckus there.

The regional passport officer had alleged that senior citizens, women and children started fleeing from the office after the MLA and his armed guards allegedly manhandled a security guard there.

The assistant regional passport officer, Ludhiana, had complained about the incident to RPO besides lodging a complaint against the MLA at the Model Town police station in the city.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, regional passport officer Sibash Kabiraj said the passport office and all passport seva kendras have been given standing instructions not to let the MLA enter the premises without due permission.

He said the passport office store personal data of applicants and such forceful entry with weapons or videography is illegal.

The court observed that the MLA did not appear despite being served a notice even as the passport office submitted video footage of the incident.

Speaking to Hindustan Times over phone, MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains said that he doesn’t carry any weapon and he would abide by the law. “I don’t need any weapons and would happily follow the rules. All these charges are to divert the attention from the corrupt system,” the LIP leader said.