Relief for Bagga after midnight HC hearing
ALSO SEEKS TO PRESERVE THE MAY 6 CCTV FOOTAGE OF JANAKPURI AND KURUKSHETRA POLICE STATIONS
CHANDIGARH/DELHI: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday night stayed the arrest of Bharatiya Janata Party youth wing leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga after a local court in Mohali issued an arrest warrant against him. The move came a day after Bagga was arrested by the Punjab Police in connection with a case regarding provocative statements and criminal intimidation but was taken back to Capital by the Delhi Police after the Haryana Police stopped the Punjab Police team midway in Kurukshetra.
During an urgent late-night hearing at his house, justice Anoop Chitkara stayed the arrest of the BJP leader till May 10, the next date of hearing, said Bagga’s counsel Chetan Mittal.
Earlier in the day, Mohali judicial magistrate Ravtesh Inderjit Singh ordered the Punjab Police’s cyber crime cell to arrest Bagga and produce him before the court. “Whereas Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, stands charged with the offence punishable under Sections 153-A, 505, 505 (2), 506 IPC. You are hereby directed to arrest the said Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga and to produce him before me. Herein fail not,” the Mohali magistrate said in his order.
The court’s order came on a fresh application filed by the Punjab Police seeking warrant against Bagga. In its petition, the police said that it had sent five notices to Bagga, asking him to join the investigation. Sukhraj Singh, DSP City-1 said that the application was filed in the Mohali court and all facts regarding incidents in Delhi were presented before the court after which the court issued the arrest warrants.
Bagga was booked on April 1 on the charges of making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation on a complaint of AAP leader Sunny Ahluwalia, a resident of Mohali.
The Punjab Police also filed a copy of the FIR and the videography from outside the Bagga’s house in Delhi when a police team had gone there on Friday to arrest him. Punjab jail minister Harjot Bains on Saturday alleged that through Bagga, BJP wants to disturb harmony in Punjab. “Not only Delhi, we will pick up people like Bagga, even if they are sitting in Kabul,” Bains said.
CHANDIGARH: During a resumed hearing of the alleged detention of Punjab Police officials by their Haryana counterparts on Friday, the Punjab government on Saturday moved two applications in the Punjab and Haryana high court, seeking the Centre be made a party in the BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga’s arrest case, and that the May 6 CCTV footage of Janakpuri (New Delhi) and Kurukshetra (Haryana) police stations be preserved.
The first application was moved by deputy superintendent of police (headquarters), Mohali, Manvir Singh Bajwa in the court of justice Gurvinder Singh Gill. The high court has adjourned the hearing for May 10.
The Punjab government has alleged that its police personnel were “detained” at Janakpuri and Kurukshetra police stations when they had gone to arrest Bagga in connection with a case registered against him at Mohali last month.
Additional solicitor general of India Satya Pal Jain, who represented the Delhi Police, said on Saturday: “They (the Punjab government) have moved these two applications, when a notice is issued by the court, we will reply to that.”
One of the two applications by the Punjab government seeks to implead the Union of India and the Delhi Police commissioner as respondents. The second plea is that CCTV footage at Pipli and Sadar police stations in Kurukshetra (Haryana) and Janakpuri police station (Delhi) dated May 6 be preserved.
On Friday, the Punjab government had moved a habeas corpus petition in the high court against the alleged detention of their personnel, a charge denied by Delhi and Haryana police.
Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was picked up from his home Friday morning by the Punjab Police. He was being taken to Punjab via road when the Haryana Police stopped the Punjab Police convoy. After a high-voltage drama, he was the brought back to the national capital by Delhi Police.