HC seeks report from Fatehgarh Sahib court

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed Fatehgarh district courts to submit a report on quashing of a 2016 FIR against Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann.

On September 2, 2016, Mann was booked by the local police for voluntarily causing hurt and defamation among other allegations on complaint of local journalists.

As per the complaint, Mann, who held a rally at the Dussera ground in Bassi Pathana, on September, 1, 2016, allegedly misbehaved with the journalists and used objectionable language.

He was also accused of instigating Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) volunteers against journalists.

He had allegedly urged the party workers to force the mediapersons out of the venue, after journalists questioned him about a sex scandal resulting in the ouster of the then AAP minister, Sandeep Kumar, in Delhi.

The FIR was registered on complaint of the secretary of Journalists’ Association of Fatehgarh Sahib, Ranjodh Singh.

The Sangrur MP had approached the high court seeking quashing of the FIR claiming that a compromise has been effected between him and the journalists.

The court, while seeking response from the Punjab government and the journalists, has directed both the parties to record their statements on compromise on April 1, or any other date convenient to them before the trial court.

The trial court has been directed to send a report along with statements of both parties on the compromise by April 23.