E-Paper
HC quashes FIRs against Bagga, Kumar Vishwas
While Bagga was booked on April 1 by Mohali police for allegedly making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation; the criminal case against Vishwas was registered on April 12 for promoting enmity between groups, criminal conspiracy, publishing or circulating a news report with intent to create enmity on the grounds of religion
Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday quashed criminal cases registered by Punjab Police against Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga and poet Kumar Vishwas.
While Bagga was booked on April 1 by Mohali police for allegedly making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation; the criminal case against Vishwas was registered on April 12 for promoting enmity between groups, criminal conspiracy, publishing or circulating a news report with intent to create enmity on the grounds of religion. Both the FIRs were registered after the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government took over reins in Punjab.
“If a gangster, mafia, or a recidivist makes a statement that he will not let somebody live, the first probable reasonable assumption that is likely to be drawn is a threat to assassinate, however, if an ordinary person, e.g., a nagging spouse or a disgruntled boss, makes such a statement in response to the doing or undoing of something, it would altogether have a different first impression. The petitioner’s statement did not seek an armed rebellion and was not a call to assault,” the bench of justice Anoop Chitkara said while referring to the statement of Bagga on the basis of which he was booked. Allegations were that he made a statement to incite others to cause violence or use of force against Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal.
Bagga’s arrest from Delhi by Punjab Police triggered a controversy with allegations that he was picked up without following the due process. He was freed after Haryana Police stopped the convoy in Kurukshetra and his custody was given to Delhi Police. Punjab Police returned empty-handed with a criminal case registered against them in Delhi for kidnap. Later, Bagga secured an interim protection from the Punjab and Haryana high court against arrest.
The bench questioned Punjab Police’s move to register an FIR against the Delhi leader and stated that it had examined all tweets produced and Bagga did not make these posts in Punjab and neither any untoward incident was reported due to this in the state.
As of Kumar Vishwas, the court said, “In a democracy, it is the pre-election times when people’s information matters the most. The petitioner (Vishwas) being a social educator, while sharing the alleged exchange that took place with his ex-associate (Kejriwal), cannot be said to have spewed venom. There is nothing to infer any intention to divide the classes on communal lines,” the court said, quashing the FIR against him.
The allegations were that Vishwas made provocative statements against Kejriwal in an interview, claiming his involvement with “nefarious and anti-social elements” in Punjab. It was also alleged that Vishwas made statements during the course of the February 2022 Punjab elections to create unrest and communal instability.
The statements by Vishwas were made on February 16 in an interview. The complaint was made about an incident of alleged violence against an AAP worker on April 12 in Rupnagar. The police had also tried to link the statements to incidents of violence reported in some other parts in March and April.
Embarrassment for AAP: Cong
Congress veteran and leader of opposition in Punjab assembly Partap Singh Bajwa said that quashing of FIRs by Punjab and Haryana high court against Bagga and Vishwas was a huge embarrassment not only for the Bhagwant Mann government but also for his political mentor Arvind Kejriwal.
Asking the CM to not run the state on his sheer whims and fancies, Bajwa said that in both cases, the Punjab Police had no jurisdiction to go all the way to Delhi to arrest Bagga and register case against Vishwas in Punjab.
Congress legislature party deputy leader Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal also said the court decision is a strong message to the AAP to refrain from “vendetta politics”. He said that Mann should learn from this embarrassment.
The Punjab BJP termed it a strong slap on the face of the AAP government. Sate BJP general secretary Subash Sharma said it was not for the first time that the AAP government had to bite the dust and get rap on its knuckles.
