Court order on Badals' anticipatory bail pleas in Kotkapura case today

Faridkot, March 14

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Faridkot, on Tuesday heard the anticipatory bail pleas of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and former deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal in the Kotkapura police firing incident of October 2015.

After three hours of arguments, the court reserved its order for March 15. Advocates RS Cheema and Shiv Kartar Sekhon claimed the Badals were implicated in the police firing case out of political vendetta despite the Punjab and Haryana High Court giving them a clean chit in the case while setting aside a police inquiry report in April 2021. They also submitted prints and video clips (Facebook and YouTube) in which senior AAP leaders were “threatening” to put the Badals behind the bars once they come to the power.

The counsels claimed that the tweets and messages on social media platforms revealed the AAP leaders’ state of mind about implicating the Badals in the case.

The counsels for the Badals said the investigation in the case had been completed and the SIT had already presented the chargesheet in the court, thus their custodial interrogation was not needed.

However, the contention on behalf of the public prosecutor was that while considering the relief for grant of anticipatory bail to the Badals, the court has to consider the nature of offence, their role, the likelihood of them influencing the investigation and tampering with evidence, including intimidating witnesses.

In February, the SIT had submitted the chargesheet, indicting the Badals and six senior police officers in the 2015 Kotkapura police firing incident.