Viral video row: Chadha’s interim bail extended

THE COURT DIRECTED HIM TO JOIN THE POLICE INVESTIGATION AFTER 10 DAYS

AMRITSAR : A local court on Thursday extended the interim bail to Chief Khalsa Diwan’s expelled head Charanjit Singh Chadha and asked him to join investigations in ten days. He was booked for allegedly sexually harassing a woman principal.

Chadha’s advocates SS Chahal and Gautam appeared in the court of additional session judge Amarjit Singh and pleaded for bail for Chadha.

However, advocate Navjot Kaur Chabba, contested Chadha’s bail application.

Chadha’s advocates said in the court that their client was already in depression due to his son’s suicide a few days ago.

They said that their client was being blackmailed over the video clip, in which Chadha is seen in an objectionable position with the woman, and a case in that regard was already registered by the Jalandhar police in September.

They also cited the old age of Chadha while seeking anticipatory bail for him.

On the other side, Navjot Kaur Chabba said that it was yet to be established that Chadha’s son Inderpreet had committed suicide.

She said notes, purportedly written by Inderpreet before ending his life, were yet to be examined by forensic experts, and his pistol was recovered in a cover from his SUV.

“If a person commits suicide by shooting himself, how can his weapon be found covered?”, she questioned.

She also said that in the video it is clearly visible that Chadha was making sexual advances towards the woman principal while she was refusing to do so.

“The video was recorded in one of Chadha’s hotels and he is responsible for its going viral,” she said, contesting Chadha’s bail plea.

The court had earlier granted an interim bail to Chadha on January 4 till January 10, a day after his son Inderpreet Singh allegedly committed suicide.

January 10 was the last day of Chadha’s interim bail, but the court had extended his bail for a day because the police didn’t present adequate record regarding the case.

Chadha, 83, was booked under Sections 354 (using assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC and Sections 67 and 67-A of the Information T echnology Act, on December 28 by the Amritsar police.

However, his son Inderpreet was booked for criminal intimidation in the case.