Cops from 3 states tussle over BJP leader’s arrest

The BJP youth wing’s national secretary Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was being sought by Punjab Police for a case registered over remarks that purported to threaten Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal.

In a drama that pitted police against police, involved a highway interception and an urgent high court hearing, and culminated in protests and a political war of words, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth wing leader was detained by Punjab Police from his home in the national capital on Friday morning, and was brought back by cops from Delhi hours later.

Bagga was charged in the FIR for making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation. (Twitter)

The manner in which the saga unfolded raised key questions about the jurisdictional powers of state forces, the tenets of cooperative federalism, and the link between party politics and policing.

The BJP youth wing’s national secretary Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga was being sought by Punjab Police for a case registered over remarks that purported to threaten Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal. Around 8.30am on Friday, police from Punjab, where the AAP is in power, picked up Bagga from his home in Delhi’s Janakpuri, and headed to Mohali, but was intercepted around 1pm in Kurukshetra by police in Haryana, where the BJP is in power.

The Punjab Police personnel and Bagga were then taken to a police station nearby, from where the Delhi Police took custody of the BJP leader, acting on a kidnapping complaint filed by the politician’s father hours earlier.

The rare confrontation between police forces – Punjab Police also said that some of its officials were detained at a Delhi police station, a claim the latter rejected – also played out at the Punjab & Haryana high court, where Punjab’s advocate general accused Haryana and Delhi police of illegally detaining the state’s personnel.

“A proper FIR has been registered against Bagga. He has not filed any anticipatory bail. We gave him proper notice to join the investigation on five occasions but he disobeyed and did not come,” said Punjab advocate general Anmol Rattan Sidhu, requesting the court to order Bagga to remain where he was, a plea the court denied.

Additional solicitor general (ASG) of India Satya Pal Jain, who appeared on behalf of the Delhi Police, rejected the allegation that Punjab cops had been detained. “We told the court that we have not apprehended, arrested or detained any police officer anywhere in Delhi,” said Jain.

In the hours that the Punjab Police team and Bagga reached Kurukshetra, about halfway between Delhi and Mohali, the BJP leader’s family filed an abduction complaint after which the Delhi Police (which ultimately reports to the Union government under the BJP) secured a search warrant – this warrant became the basis for the cops from the national capital to take his custody from Haryana.

“We had just had tea and were starting to get ready when two Punjab policemen, who had delivered summons in the past, arrived. While we were talking to them, about 10-15 men entered the house and started to drag Tajinder. He asked them for some time to wear his turban but they denied. They then started taking him forcibly and when I started to take a video, they took me to another room, robbed my phone and punched me on the face,” said Bagga’s father, Preet Pal Singh Bagga.

In his complaint to police, Preet Pal did not mention Punjab Police and described the alleged abductors as unknown individuals.

Delhi Police’s deputy commissioner (west) Ghanshyam Bansal said a search warrant was obtained from the Dwarka court, “based on which assistance of Kurukshetra district police was taken to trace and recover the abducted victim”.

The crux of the row between the Punjab and Delhi police appears to be over a protocol that requires police to inform local law enforcement while apprehending a suspect from another state.

Punjab AG Sidhu told the high court the state personnel followed proper procedure and informed the Janakpuri station. “We sent the team to his house and a team also went to the Janakpuri police station. Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Kuljinder Singh was still sitting there along with his team for giving intimation since morning but the Delhi Police did not record it,” Sidhu said.

Jain, on his part, contended that the Punjab Police did not involve the Delhi Police nor gave them any prior information. “So, the Delhi Police had no information why he was arrested and by whom”, and added that the “Punjab cops remained at the Delhi station voluntarily”.

In Delhi, a lawyer representing Punjab police said the Janakpuri police station did not allow the DSP, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) and a constable to leave. “When we told the station officers about what their lawyer submitted to the high court, they still didn’t let us leave. We then started taking their videos after which they let us leave around 5:30pm,” said lawyer RK Rathore.

In a video that emerged during the day, the ASI, who was among those who were allegedly forced into police custody, also made a police control room call two hours after they reached Janakpuri police station alleging that the DSP has been detained. “We had come to arrest our accused Tajinder Singh Bagga and had come to police station to inform but our DSP has been detained,” he said.

Delhi Police could not be reached for a comment on whether Punjab Police officers were in police custody.

District DCP Bansal and additional commissioner of police Chinmoy Biswal, who reached the Janakpuri station in the morning, were there till at least late evening.

Legal experts saw the saga with concern.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi said: “Indian federalism is today a multi-party phenomenon. The party at Centre, in its democratic competition for power with regional forces, and vice versa, overreact to situations of conflict. They need to be tolerant and cooperative even while vehemently competing for greater political space. India is a Union of States. The States inter se and the Union too must be accommodative of each other and not always in conflict.”

Senior advocate KV Viswanathan said: “The ugly spectacle that unfolded today seriously undermined the fundamental constitutional concept that: India, that is Bharat, is a Union of States. To avoid such aberrations, caused due to abuse of power by individuals, prior judicial oversight must be made a mandatory precondition for interstate arrests, except in cases of hot pursuit. Also the police machinery must be sensitised to constitutional values of federalism and rule of law and any blind adherence to political masters, must be visited with severe penalty.”

Meanwhile, outside Janakpuri station through the day, BJP workers and Bagga’s supporters protested against Kejriwal and the Punjab Police. The crowd burst into cheer when word spread about Bagga being brought back to Delhi.

AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj defended Bagga’s arrest, saying the state police registered a case against Bagga last month after the BJP leader, through his social media posts, “tried to create communal tension and incite violence” in Patiala.

Bharadwaj’s reference was to clashes in Patiala on April 29. Punjab Police said it arrested Bagga in connection with a case registered in Mohali on April 1, which pertained to his remarks on March 30 when he was part of a BJP youth wing protest outside Kejriwal’s residence.

Bagga was charged in the FIR for making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation.

Delhi BJP leaders, including state unit president Adesh Gupta, held their own press conference and slammed Kejriwal, saying their leader had been picked up for “unmasking” his lies.

“It is said that if you want to see someone’s real face, give that person power. The real character and face of Kejriwal has now come to the fore,” Gupta alleged.