Bagga gets reprieve from Punjab and Haryana High Court
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 May, 2022 12:24 PM
Chandigarh, May 10 (IANS) In a major reprieve to BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday ordered continuation of his interim protection.
But Justice Anoop Chitkara questioned Punjab on filing of a habeas corpus plea in the case.
The case will come up for final hearing on July 5 after the summer break.
Additional Solicitor General Satya Pal Jain refuted the allegations of illegal detention and said not even a single officer was detained.
An affidavit in this regard has already been filed by the Delhi Police.
The High Court last week stayed the arrest of Bagga and directed the Punjab government to not take any coercive action against him until the next hearing which was scheduled for May 10.
The BJP leader moved the High Court while challenging a non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him by a Mohali Court on May 7.
The Punjab government, in its habeas plea, had moved two applications: one for making the Centre a party to the case and the second for direction to Delhi and Haryana Police to preserve the CCTV cameras.
The state had filed the habeas corpus petition against the Haryana government, alleging that 12 Punjab Police officers involved in the arrest of Bagga have been detained by Haryana police in Kurukshetra.
Punjab also sought the custody of Bagga, the national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, who was held in connection with a case registered against him in Mohali last month.
In its plea, the Punjab government had alleged that when Punjab Police was taking Bagga to SAS Nagar (Mohali) to produce him before the area magistrate, the Haryana Police stopped them midway and brought them to the Kurukshetra where his custody was given to the Delhi Police.
Delhi Police, which reports to the Union Home Ministry, on May 6 took Bagga's custody and later released him after legal process.
It also lodged two cases against Punjab Police in connection with Bagga's arrest.
Punjab Police, while taking Bagga to Mohali from Delhi, was stopped midway by the Haryana Police after Delhi Police registered a kidnapping case on the complaint of father of the BJP leader.
Although the department has all infrastructural needs in place to deal with the large number of cases expected in case of the third wave becoming a reality, he also appealed to the people to get themselves fully vaccinated against the virus as it is the most potent tool to avoid Covid-19.
Regretting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to cancel his scheduled visit to Ferozepur midway, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said on Wednesday that there was no security lapse that led to the cancellation of the Prime Ministers visit to the bordering town.
Holding the Punjab government squarely responsible for the "gross security lapse" during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, that eventually led to cancellation of all his programmes, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday demanded dismissal of the government and imposition of President's rule.
With the spike in Covid-19 cases, Punjab on Tuesday imposed statewide night curfew daily from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and ordered closure of all educational institutions till January 15.
The accused, identified as Ashish Kumar, tied his wife Ranjan Devi and son Vaibhav to the bed and set them on fire at his house in Mayurwa locality, which comes under the Triveniganj police station.
Nearly 100 students and resident doctors of the Government Medical College in Patiala in Punjab have tested positive for Covid-19, officials said on Tuesday. A retirement party and New Year Eve's party held on the college campus without following appropriate Covid-19 behaviour is blamed for alarming spike in the cases.
