E-Paper
High court bars BJP leader Tajinder Bagga’s arrest after midnight hearing
“High court granted relief granted. No coercive action till next date of hearing,” said senior advocate Chetan Mittal, who represented Bagga, at the proceedings after a hearing held close to midnight.
The Punjab and Haryana high court late on Saturday stayed the arrest BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, hours after a Mohali court issued a warrant for the BJP leader’s arrest in connection with a case regarding provocative statements.
“High court granted relief granted. No coercive action till next date of hearing,” said senior advocate Chetan Mittal, who represented Bagga, at the proceedings after a hearing held close to midnight.
“During the hearing, Advocate General of Punjab told the court that he will not be arrested till Tuesday when the matter is listed before the high court,” said advocate Satya Pal Jain, who represented the Delhi Police.
In his application, Bagga contended that he had been wrongly implicated in the FIR registered at the “instance of AAP member/s with an ulterior motive to settle scores for political gains.”
Bagga had earlier filed an application seeking quashing of the FIR which is pending before high court and is listed for hearing on May 10. The application said that the “registration of FIR is to wreak vengeance through politically motivated criminal investigation.”
The high court’s relief came hours after Judicial Magistrate Mohali Ravtesh Inderjit Singh told the State Cyber Crime Mohali to arrest Bagga and produce him before the court. The next date of hearing in the case is May 23. “Whereas Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, stands charged with the offence punishable U/Sec 153-A, 505, 505 (2), 506 IPC. You are hereby directed to arrest the said Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga and to produce him before me. Herein fail not,” said the lower court’s order.
The Mohali Police had earlier told the judicial magistrate that the police sent five notices to the BJP leader to present himself for investigation but he was a no show.
Bagga has, however, denied that he ignored the police notices.
“The response of all their notices were given as per the legal procedure. Two such responses were given by my lawyer. The hearing on my FIR quashing plea that was scheduled on May 5 was deferred because the judge was unwell. The next hearing is on May 10,” Bagga said earlier in Delhi on Saturday.
