Punjab: ₹5-cr bribery charges: Court vacates gag order against ex-HC judge Ranjit Singh

Civil judge (junior division) Prikshit modified the September 8 order passed on an application by Bhagwant Mann’s wife, Gurpreet Kaur

A local court on Friday vacated the restrain order against former high court judge Ranjit Singh, which had barred him from publishing, circulating or making content against Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s wife, Gurpreet Kaur, over allegations of a ₹5 crore demand to help a rape accused.

In the application filed through advocate Charanjit Singh Bakshi, the former judge had alleged that Kaur had concealed material facts and did not disclose that the allegations were already part of proceedings before the high court. (HT File)

Civil judge (junior division) Prikshit modified the September 8 order passed on an application by Kaur. The earlier order had also restrained Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia and Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira from publishing, circulating or making any unverified defamatory content. The next hearing in the matter is on October 6.

The rape accused in question is social media influencer Gurvinder Singh, alias Guri Chahal, who has been booked in two separate cases in Mohali and Amritsar. He is learnt to have left the country. In both the FIRs, police have filed cancellation reports, prompting victims to level allegations of bias. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has refuted these allegations, terming them as “motivated” to tarnish the state government’s image. One Simranjeet Hundal, who was accused of mediating between Kaur and the rape accused, has also made public statements denying the allegations.

In the application filed through advocate Charanjit Singh Bakshi, the former judge had alleged that Kaur had concealed material facts and did not disclose that the allegations were already part of proceedings before the high court. The court examined the complete video of Singh’s August 20 press conference submitted by him and also took note of the high court proceedings.

The court observed that the complete press-conference video, read with the high court order, showed that Kaur had made material omissions by not disclosing the full context of Singh’s statement. The court also rejected the allegations that Singh had acted with malafide intent.