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Chandigarh: Court grants interim bail to Punjab minister, three others; asks them to join probe
The women wing of the Aam Aadmi Party had tried to gherao the Bharatiya Janata Party’s office in Chandigarh’s Sector 37 on August 29, 2021, when four cops were also injured
The court of additional sessions judge Rajeev K Beri on Wednesday granted interim bail to Punjab cabinet minister Anmol Gagan Mann alias Gagandeep Kaur and three others in a case dating back to August 29, 2021, when the women wing of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had tried to gherao the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) office in Chandigarh’s Sector 37.
The court also asked them to join the investigation within a week and cooperate in it.
The counsels of the applicants said, “They are associated with the AAP and have been falsely implicated due to political rivalry. Anmol Gagan Mann is now a Punjab cabinet minister. Dr Sunny Singh is secretary general of AAP’s Punjab unit, while Rajwinder Kaur Gill and Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Gill are its volunteers.”
“There is no apprehension of absconding of applicants. No attempts were made to arrest them since the FIR was registered last year. The FIR is also registered under all bailable provisions, except IPC Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty),” they added.
Four cops were injured during the protest, whose medical reports were also furnished in the court.
The prosecution said the applicants had taken law in their hands and violated the directions of the administration by gathering without permission. They tried to break barricades and jostled with police officials on duty, resulting in injuries to some of them, it added. The investigating officer said that despite registration of an FIR, the applicants could not be arrested as their gunmen refused to allow entry of cops. He, however, admitted that on the day of the incident, AAP’s government was not formed in Punjab and none of the applicants had any gunmen.
The court observed that in this gap of over one year, no effective effort was made by the investigating agency to arrest the applicants. Medical record shows that injuries to the police officials were superficial and minor, it said and added that no weapon was involved and nothing as such was to be recovered from the applicants.
The court also said that they will eventually be admitted to interim bail by the investigating officer on furnishing bail bonds to his satisfaction. A status report will be furnished by him on November 19.
