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Chandigarh court dismisses gangster Bishnoi’s plea to be handcuffed
A district court in Chandigarh has dismissed the application moved by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi seeking directions to the Chandigarh Police to handcuff him when
A district court in Chandigarh has dismissed the application moved by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi seeking directions to the Chandigarh Police to handcuff him when being brought to the court or any other place, fearing he could be killed in a “fake encounter”.
It was mentioned in the court order: “As per directive of the Supreme Court, the permission to handcuff is sought by prosecution/police concerned and the same is allowed by magistrate only in special circumstances. Generally, the practice of handcuffing is denounced with respect to human dignity.”
Dismissing the application, the court stated that the application was not maintainable.
The court order read, “The application is not maintainable as per law as the applicant does not have locus standi to file his application. However, if the police or prosecution finds reasonable grounds for the likelihood of the accused escaping from custody on being produced, an application may be filed by the police.”
However, the order further mentioned that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, accused are being produced only by video conferencing until further orders from the high court. “As such, physical production of the accused during this period is not necessary,” the order further read.
Currently lodged in a jail in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, the 35-year-old gangster has a number of FIRs lodged against him in Chandigarh, Punjab and Rajasthan.
Bishnoi had mentioned in the application that according to news reports, his name had cropped up in two recent cases—firing incidents at Singlas’ house in Sector 33 and at a liquor shop in Sector 9.
His counsel Terminder Singh said that Bishnoi had been lodged in Rajasthan for two years and had no communication or connection with any of the accused arrested in the above mentioned cases.
As he was anticipating arrest, Bishnoi had pleaded before the court to direct the investigating officer to “handcuff” him and “guard with special security” so that he was not killed while in police custody.
