HC orders accountability for higher officials in Lawrence Bishnoi interview case
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 on Thursday 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 of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Lapita Banerji asserted.
Taking up the matter, the Bench asserted the SIT looking into the matter in its status report had stated that the first interview was conducted in September 2022 and the interviewee was in the premises of Kharar CIA Staff.
The Bench also took note of Punjab Advocate-General Gurminder Singh’s submission that disciplinary action would be initiated against the officers, “who were incharge of the CIA Staff as well as the supervisory officers in accordance with law”.
Before parting with the case, the Bench also recorded submissions by the Principal Secretary, Home Affairs and Justice, and the State Director-General of Police and that they were duty-bound to take action against the delinquent officers.
Fixing the case for September last week, the Bench directed ADGP, Prisons, to file an affidavit on progress regarding the installation of jammers, AI-based CCTV cameras, body-worn cameras and other measures to augment the jail security.
The Bench in December last had directed the registration of two FIRs to be probed by the SIT while observing that the interviewee was involved in 71 cases in Punjab and convicted in four matters, including offences under 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.
