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Lawrence Bishnoi interviews: Punjab wants closure of PIL proceedings
The Punjab government on Tuesday sought closure of suo motu proceedings initiated by the high court in 2023, following the interviews of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi that were aired by a private channel
The Punjab government on Tuesday sought closure of suo motu proceedings initiated by the high court in 2023, following the interviews of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi that were aired by a private channel.
The case was being heard by a bench presided over by justice Anupinder Singh Grewal, who retired earlier this month and was listed for hearing before the bench presided over by the chief justice on Tuesday.
“This cannot be an open-ended case continuing forever… the purpose of this PIL as it had started is absolutely over,” senior advocate Puneet Bali, appearing for the Punjab government, said while listing out the steps taken by the Punjab government against glorification of gangster culture and strengthening jail infrastructure.
He submitted that the issue of the gangster interview has already been conclusively probed, and a court-monitored SIT filed reports and fixed the responsibility of the concerned officer. The court also examined the issue of jail infrastructure and steps taken in that regard have been detailed in the affidavits before the court. Later, the court also took cognisance of a shooting at a kabaddi event in Mohali and subsequently about firing incident reported outside Mohali SSP office, he said adding that multiple affidavits have been filed covering 92 FIRs relating to shooting incidents, month-wise details of extortion cases, SOPs and anti-gangster helplines, removal of online content, and proposals for installation of 12,000+ CCTV cameras approximately costing ₹60 crore. He further argued that in view of this, the proceedings should be closed.
The court has deferred the hearing for March 24, observing that it would examine on the adjourned date whether court monitoring was required.
The suo motu plea was initiated in 2023, observing that such interviews tend to glorify crime and criminals and could have an adverse effect on impressionable minds. Later, the interviews were deleted, but the police had told the court that these interviews garnered 12 million views on YouTube. The controversy was about two interviews of the gangster telecast on March 14 and March 17, 2023, when he was in Bathinda jail. The Punjab Police had initially denied that these interviews took place within the state. Later, a special investigation team (SIT) found that one of the interviews was conducted at the Punjab Police facility in Kharar on the intervening night of September 3 and 4 in 2022 and the second interview was conducted in Rajasthan. The FIR in the second interview’s case has now been transferred to Rajasthan.
X claims HC order ‘stretched’
During the hearing of this case, X, formerly Twitter, told the court that its orders against the glorification of gangsters related crime are being ‘stretched’ by the Punjab government.
Senior advocate Randeep Singh Rai, appearing for the social media platform, said that he intends to file an application seeking clarification of the HC order of January 28, which ordered the Punjab DGP to identify websites and social media platforms, where video posts tend to glorify crime, and criminals , were ordered to be removed.
He submitted that the court’s direction is being stretched beyond its mandate, and in one FIR registered in Mohali, now the Punjab Police are going “two steps further to say any comment on us also should be taken down”. He further said, adding that the order had a limited scope. The court did not interfere and asked Rai to approach the appropriate forum against the government’s move.
