HC grants bail to farmer leader Navdeep

Farmer leader Navdeep Singh He was booked under Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 and under Section 8B of the National Highway Act, 1956 at Ambala Sadar police station

The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Tuesday granted bail to farmer leader Navdeep Singh, in an FIR registered on February 13 in Ambala.

The high court bench of justice Sandeep Moudgil observed that challan was presented on May 20 and since farmers leader Navdeep has already suffered a three-month and 15-day period in jail, the court does not find any reason to deny him bail. (Getty Images/Purestock)

He was booked under Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 and under Section 8B of the National Highway Act, 1956 at Ambala Sadar police station. He had approached the high court on May 8.

The high court bench of justice Sandeep Moudgil observed that challan was presented on May 20 and since he has already suffered a three-month and 15-day period in jail, the court does not find any reason to deny him bail. It also noted that the trial is likely to take a long time as none of the witnesses out of 52 have been examined so far. Detaining the behind bars for an indefinite period would amount to a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, it said ordering his release.

As per the record before the court, he is involved in as many as 15 more cases, and out of those, in six cases he stands acquitted and in three cases the investigation is still ongoing. “All the cases are on the same lines, which seems to have been registered within proximity on the same set of allegations. Moreover, all the cases have been registered in Ambala District only, which is sufficient for this court to infer that the petitioner is being dragged in all those cases falsely,” it further added.