Punjab MLA gets SC protection from arrest to file nomination

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday restrained the Punjab government from arresting Lok Insaaf Party MLA Simranjit Singh Bains till Tuesday in connection with an alleged rape case.

A bench headed by chief justice of India NV Ramana granted an interim protection from arrest to Bains in view of his lawyer’s submission that the legislator should be permitted to file his nomination papers on Tuesday for the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab. Polling is set to take place in the state on February

20. The last date of filing nominations was February 1.

“We restrain the State from arresting the petitioner till Thursday,” directed the bench, which also comprised justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli.

The bench was initially inclined to protect Bains from arrest till February 23 keeping in view a similar order passed by it on Monday in favour of Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia. Majithia was protected from arrest till February 23 in an alleged drugs case.

However, it decided to go through the documents that the complainant in the case, a 44-year-old woman, sought to adduce before the court to oppose the argument that the MLA’s arrest was linked to the election.

Advocate Gagan Gupta, appearing for the complainant, submitted that non-bailable warrants have been issued against Bains and that criminal cases in turn were foisted on her family after she moved a trial court in 2020 for registration of a criminal case against the MLA from Atam Nagar constituency. “This case has nothing to do with election... 20 criminal cases pending against the petitioner. He has brought it to the brink of election to make it an election issue deliberately,” said Gupta.