Delhi HC dismisses Honeypreet''s anticipatory bail application

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 26

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected the transit anticipatory bail plea of Honeypreet Insan, wanted by the Haryana Police to face changes of sedition and inciting violence following the arrest of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim in twin rape cases last month. 

Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal dismissed her plea for three-week transit anticipatory bail, saying she was not entitled to any discretionary relief as she has evaded arrest.

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The plea was filed in Delhi to buy time and delay proceedings in Haryana, Justice Dhingra noted.

 During the arguments on her plea, the Bench had during the day asked counsel for Honeypreet (36), adopted daughter of the jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief, to show any document that a property in Delhi belonged to her or anyone connected to her.

 "The easiest way out is that you surrender," Justice Sehgal said, while asking why she was seeking transit anticipatory bail for three weeks. “First you come on jurisdiction (sic). Why has the plea been moved here? You surrender in Delhi and we will take care," the judge had told her counsel during the proceedings.

Ram Rahim was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula on August 25 for raping two of his disciples in 2002. His followers indulged in violence and arson in Panchkula and Sirsa districts of Haryana leading to 41 deaths and injuries to many others, mostly in police firing. On August 28, he was sentenced to a 20-year jail term.

Priyanka Taneja alias Honeypreet is among of 43 persons wanted by the Haryana Police in connection with violence that followed Ram Rahim's conviction. She has been on the run since Ram Rahim’s conviction in two rape cases.

 Honeypreet's advocate Pradeep Kumar Arya sought transit anticipatory bail application i.e. protection from arrest during her transit from Delhi to Haryana for joining probe on the ground that she was a woman and ready to join the investigation. He said there was threat to her life.

 "It is to humiliate me. I am not required for custodial interrogation. If I am given protection, I will move to Panchkula court or the Punjab and Haryana High Court for anticipatory bail. I am not even named in the FIR. What kind of sedition charges can be there against me," Arya contended. Honeypreet apprehended arrest in the capital after the police raided her house here this morning, he added.

Advocates representing Delhi and Haryana Police opposed her plea terming it "a ploy to do 'forum shopping'" and and attempt to "hoodwink" the court by giving a wrong address of a Delhi property.

Delhi Police standing counsel Rahul Mehra said Honeypreet was considered to be the closest person to the Dera chief and there should have been some restraint and calls made to ensure peace and prevent the incidents of the large-scale violence that had occurred.

Regarding the claim of Honeypreet's counsel that she was facing threat to her life as the atmosphere in Haryana was not good, Mehra said if she was a law-abiding citizen, she should surrender and Delhi Police, which is considered the best in India, will ensure that no harm is caused to her.

 Additional Advocate General of Haryana Anil Grover said jurisdiction of Delhi was made out only if a person resided here permanently. While Honeypreet's passport showed her address to be of Sirsa in Haryana, the place where a person is roaming around cannot decide jurisdiction for filing the bail plea, he said.

"Forum shopping is the exact name for such petitions. Where was she all this while? And where she is now is anybody's guess. She is not coming clean before this court," Grover said.

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