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.
Director General of Police Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota said the Ludhiana rural police earlier this week arrested two persons for providing shelter and logistical support to the accused, Ranjeet Singh, alias Gora, in the Jalalabad blast case, which is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who reached Ayodhya for the fifth 'Deepotsav' (festival of lights) event, while inaugurating and laying the foundation stone of various projects worth Rs 661 crore, credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the construction of a grand Ram temple and also launched an attack on the opposition parties.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Monday warned that if the farmers' demands are not met till November 26, they would pitch tents the following day across all borders of Delhi and reinvigorate their agitation.
In a bonanza to the people of Punjab ahead of Diwali, the Punjab Cabinet on Monday decided to reduce the power tariff to domestic sector consumers having connected load up to 7 KW by Rs 3 per unit.
The Congress is offering 40 per cent reservation in tickets to women in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, because the party knows that it would not come to power in the politically crucial state anyway, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said here on Monday.
The Congress is closely watching former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's moves and the leaders who have close ties with him. The state unit has been tasked to placate such leaders or arrange a meeting with the high command.
