9 months on, Punjab and Haryana High Court told of action against officers over Lawrence Bishnoi’s custodial interview

Nearly nine months after “known criminal” Lawrence Bishnoi’s in-custody interview “glorifying crime and criminals” was described as a matter of grave concern, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was today told that show cause notices had been issued to four police officers, including an IPS officer.

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As the matter came up for resumed hearing, the bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Lapita Banerji was told that Punjab Department of Home Affairs had issued a show cause notice to IPS officer Vivek Sheel Soni, along with PPS officers Amandeep Singh Brar and Gursher Singh. The bench was told that these officers, along with another officer, had “supervisory jurisdiction” over Khahar CIA staff at the relevant time. The bench was further told that Jalandhar Range DIGP had issued a show cause notice to Inspector Shiv Kumar too.

An affidavit to this effect was placed before the bench less than a fortnight after the high court made it clear that action should extend to higher-ranking officers with supervisory authority. “The interview had been conducted at the premises of CIA staff, Kharar, which falls in the jurisdiction of police district SAS Nagar, Mohali. We hope and trust that action would not be confined to the lower level officials but extend to the higher officers who had supervisory jurisdiction over CIA staff, Kharar, including the then SSP, who was the head of the district police when the interview was conducted,” the bench had asserted.

The bench in December last had directed the registration of two FIRs to be probed by SIT while observing that the interviewee was involved in 71 cases in Punjab and convicted in four matters, including offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 302 of the IPC and extortions. He was justifying target killings and his criminal activities, while reiterating and justifying threat to a film actor.

The trials were underway in a large number of cases and attempt to project his persona as larger than life could influence the witnesses. “Punjab is a border state and any deterioration in law and order or increase in crime could affect the national security as at times, anti-national elements take advantage of the situation and often use criminals for their nefarious designs. They often get help from across the border. There is a thin line between extortion, target killings and anti–national activities. The conduct of the interviews is an apparent jail security breach and violation of the Prisons Act. The interviews have been telecast for the last nine months and are available on public domain,” the bench had added.