HIGH COURT STAYS ARREST OF BAGGA TILL JULY 6
CHANDIGARH: In a reprieve for BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday stayed his arrest till July 6 in a case of allegedly making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation.
No coercive action will be taken against Bagga till July 6, the next date of hearing, additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain, who appeared on behalf of Delhi Police and the Centre, said after the court heard the matter.
The bench of justice Anoop Chitkara heard Bagga’s plea, seeking stay on the warrants issued by a Mohali court and quashing of the FIR against him.
IF BAGGA’S STATEMENT IS TO BE RECORDED BY PUNJAB POLICE, IT WILL BE DONE AT HIS DELHI RESIDENCE IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS LAWYER, SAYS COURT
CHANDIGARH: In a reprieve for BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday stayed his arrest till July 6 in a case of allegedly making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation.
No coercive action will be taken against Bagga till July 6, the next date of hearing, additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain, who appeared on behalf of Delhi Police and the Centre, said after the court heard the matter.
The bench of justice Anoop Chitkara heard Bagga’s plea, seeking stay on the warrants issued by a Mohali court and quashing of the FIR against him.
“Interim relief to continue as advocate general of Punjab has told the court that he will not be arrested till the next date when the matter is listed before the high court,” said Jain.
The investigations in the case may continue but Bagga would not be called to Punjab. The high court clarified that in case the police want to interrogate Bagga, “it shall do so only at the place of his residence at Delhi and that too, only twice before the next date of hearing. The petitioner (Bagga) shall be interrogated only for one hour each time between 10am to 5pm in the presence of his counsel. The probe team shall not consist of more than three persons and it shall be led by an IPS officer. The police report (chargesheet) under Section 173 of the CRPC shall also not be filed till the next date of hearing.”
No Punjab Police official detained
On the habeas corpus filed before the high court, Punjab had sought time to file a detailed reply in the form of affidavits that would include the statements of the members of the teams that were allegedly detained in Delhi and Kurukshetra.
Haryana denied the allegations submitting that the police acted on the basis of a court order, while Delhi Police reiterated that not a single officer was detained. They have already filed an affidavit in this regard.
Delhi Police, Centre made party to case
Acting on Punjab’s application, the high court issued notices to Delhi Police and the Union government subject to jurisdiction. Punjab had moved the application, urging the court to implead Delhi Police and the Centre as party. Jain had submitted that the high court had no jurisdiction to hear matter on the dispute that took place in Delhi before accepting the notices.
The court of judicial magistrate, Mohali, Ravtesh Inderjit Singh had issued the arrest warrant against Bagga in connection with a case registered last month.
Was booked for making provocative statements
Punjab Police had booked Bagga on charges of making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation.
The case was registered on a complaint of AAP leader Sunny Ahluwalia, a resident of Mohali. The FIR registered on April 1 referred to Bagga’s remarks on March 30, when he was part of a BJP youth wing protest outside the residence of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Bagga was arrested by Punjab Police from his Delhi home on last Friday, stopped in Haryana while being taken to Punjab and brought back to the national capital by Delhi Police hours later.