Punjab and Haryana High Court restrains harassment of LoP Partap Singh Bajwa

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the state and its functionaries to ensure Punjab Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa was not unnecessarily harassed “in the name of the investigation” in a case registered by the police following his remarks on untraced grenades allegedly smuggled into the state.

Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya’s bench also made it clear that the investigation would be carried out strictly as per the laid down procedure. The direction came as the court fixed May 22 as the next date of hearing for the state to file its detailed reply.

At the onset, the bench took note of Bajwa’s submissions that he was being subjected to harassment under the garb of investigation. It was contended before the high court through senior advocate APS Deol and counsel Himmat Singh Deol, Arshdeep Singh Cheema and Vishal Lamba that notices under Section 94 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) were being issued to him for disclosing “irrelevant” information.

He referred to, in particular, a May 10 notice directing him to furnish details of all mobile phones and SIM cards used by him over the past two years. He was asked to submit the information by noon on May 11. His counsel submitted the time allowed was unreasonably short and the information sought was extraneous to the allegations in the FIR. Opposing the plea, the state argued that the information was necessary for the investigation and assured the court that a reply would be filed by the next date.

The FIR in the matter was registered on the basis of a complaint by a police constable, who alleged that Bajwa, during a Facebook interview, had claimed that 50 grenades had reached Punjab from Pakistan, of which 18 had been used and 32 were yet to be detonated. The complainant stated that the claim was misleading and capable of spreading public discontent.

In the main petition seeking quashing of the FIR, Bajwa stated that his comments were made during a talk show on April 10 while referring to a news report from the previous day. He maintained that he was drawing attention to the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, including recent bomb blasts, and remarked that the government seemed to be “sleeping over the intelligence”.