Punjab and Haryana High Court stays arrest of Barjinder Singh Hamdard

Saurabh Malik 

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Chandigarh, May 31

Issuing a notice of motion to Punjab, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday stayed the arrest of former Rajya Sabha member and Ajit Group of Publications Managing Editor Barjinder Singh Hamdard in a cheating and corruption case registered just about a week back by the Vigilance Bureau at Jalandhar.

The direction by Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj will remain in force at least till July 18 –– when the case will come up for further hearing. The matter pertains to the construction and running of Jang-E-Azadi Memorial in Jalandhar. Hamdard was represented by senior advocate RS Cheema with R. Kartikeya and Arshdeep Singh Cheema.

Justice Bhardwaj also issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Hamdard, among other things, was seeking the transfer of the case to an independent agency such as the CBI after contending that he was being “falsely dragged in a controversy”.

Hamdard contended it was to compel him to succumb to the government pressure and publish their paid news/advertisements “in the form of news articles and thereby forgo his ethics in a bid of the State to spread misinformation and influence the electorate”.

Hamdard added then-Chief Minister Praksh Singh Badal considered it appropriate to confer upon him the honour of the being part of the Jang-e-Azadi memorial, keeping in view his stature and impeachable reputation in the field of journalism and literature.

“The petitioner agreed to the same and worked tirelessly, despite his professional constraints and was successful in the construction of the Punjab Freedom Movement Memorial to honour the freedom fighters of the State. The present government however stated targeting the petitioner to settle their personal scores by conducting a roving and fishing enquiry in the construction and running of the memorial by illegally targeting the petitioner for extraneous consideration,” he added.