Akali Dal IT wing head’s arrest illegal, rules HC

Finding prima facie merit in the argument that the arrest was carried out “without adhering to the statutory provisions and law settled by the Supreme Court”, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered the release on interim bail of Nachattar Singh, IT wing head of the Shiromani Akali Dal. He was taken into custody from a café in Amritsar on November 15.

Appearing before Justice Rajesh Bhardwaj’s Bench, counsel Saurav Bhatia, Navdeep Khokhar, DS Sobti and Amit Kumar Goyal, submitted that the detainee was arrested without adhering to the statutory provisions and the law settled by the Supreme Court.

“It has been held that on the failure to comply with the requirement of informing grounds of arrest as soon as may be after the arrest, the arrest is vitiated. Once the arrest is held to be vitiated, the person arrested, held cannot remain in custody even for a second,” the counsel contended.

The counsel for the petitioner also submitted that Nachattar was “dragged by the police and put behind the bars” when he was apprehended on November 15 from a coffee shop at Ranjit Avenue, Amritsar, “without any legitimate grounds or reasons for remand and without being informed grounds of his arrest”. It was pointed out that the FIR was registered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, only at 6.30 pm after the arrest.

The petitioner added the maximum prescribed sentence being seven years. But “no notice under Section 41-A CrPC/Section 35 of the BNSS was issued to the detainee”. The court recorded: “It is further submitted that the conduct of the investigating agencies in apprehending the detainee and thereafter registering the FIR after arresting him illegally in itself shows that the respondent-state had made a blatant attempt to justify the illegal arrest.

The state placed a status report through the affidavit of Harinder Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Detective), Tarn Taran. “He submits that the incident in the present case is of November 5. However, only DDR was registered on November 5, whereas the FIR was registered on November15.

Taking note of the submissions, Justice Bhardwaj observed: “Prima facie, this court finds the contention raised by counsel for the petitioner to be justified.” However, to allow the state time to address arguments, the matter was adjourned to December 10.

“In the meanwhile, the detainee is directed to be released on interim bail in the present case till the next date of hearing on his furnishing adequate bail and surety bonds subject to the satisfaction of learned trial court/CJM/Duty Magistrate concerned,” Justice Bhardwaj asserted.