AAP MLA moves HC alleging illegal arrest to defeat bail order

The sitting Aam Aadmi Party legislator from Jalandhar Central, Raman Arora, has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging that he was illegally arrested in a second case immediately after being granted bail in another FIR.

In his petition, the MLA contended that his arrest in FIR dated August 23 registered at Rama Mandi police station was “illegal” and carried out “in violation of the constitutional mandate under Article 21 and 22” as well as Section 47 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). He claimed that the “grounds of arrest” were never supplied to him before or at the time of arrest.

The plea asserted: “The actions of the respondent State to arrest the petitioner in the subject FIR do not fulfil the test of necessity to arrest, which is now a prerequisite as held by the Supreme Court in Arvind Kejriwal v CBI, 2024 SCC OnLine SC 2550. Therefore, there is blatant violation of Article 22 of the Constitution while arresting the petitioner.”

It was further submitted that the FIR dated August 23 was concealed from both the high court and the petitioner during the hearing of the plea, in which bail was granted on September 3. “Immediately, on this court pronouncing the bail order, the petitioner has been arrested in the subject FIR in order to defeat the order dated September 3,” the petition stated.

Terming the development, a “quintessential example of motivated misuse of the process of law,” the legislator alleged that the concealment of the second FIR amounted to contempt, as officials had filed “incorrect and incomplete affidavits” before the court.

The petition also pointed out that the MLA is suffering from Grade III Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, a severe stage of prostate enlargement, often requiring surgical intervention.