'No Coercive Action Till 10 May': Relief for Bagga After Midnight HC Hearing

Mohali judicial magistrate had ordered the Punjab Police to arrest Tajinder Bagga and produce him before the court.

Tajinder Bagga had moved HC challenging the non-bailable arrest warrant issued by a Mohali court on complaints of instigation, criminal intimidation to cause violence.

(Photo: PTI)

In a midnight hearing on Saturday, 7 May, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Punjab government against taking coercive action against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tajinder Bagga until 10 May. The next hearing is scheduled on the same date.

The urgent hearing against the BJP leader's plea was held at Justice Anoop Chitkara's residence in Chandigarh.

Bagga had moved HC challenging the non-bailable arrest warrant issued by a Mohali court on complaints of instigation, criminal intimidation to cause violence, imminent hurt by publishing false, and communal inflammatory statements on social media.

Earlier on Saturday, Mohali judicial magistrate Ravtesh Inderjit Singh ordered the Punjab Police’s cyber crime cell to arrest Bagga and produce him before the court. The court fixed had fixed 23 May as the next date of hearing.

"I thank the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and the Minority Commission who showed yesterday that law still works in this country."

Tajinder Bagga told news agency ANI

The Case Against Bagga

The Punjab Police arrested on 6 May for allegedly issuing death threats to Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) National Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the latter's views on the controversial Bollywood film The Kashmir Files.

The police said that Bagga had failed to appear before it despite having been served five notices.

However, the arrest was thwarted as the Delhi Police obtained a search warrant based on kidnapping complaint by the BJP leader's father.

The Senior Superintendent of Police, SAS Nagar Mohali, later sent a letter to his counterpart in Kurukshetra, requesting the release of the Punjab Police team and Bagga so that he may be presented before the court "in time as per law". He added that the team being stopped "tantamounts to illegal detention and interference in the administration of criminal justice system".

"We're happy that Punjab-Haryana HC directed not to take coercive action against Tajinder. Arvind Kejriwal is scared of him as he's exposing his wrongdoings. He also tried to persuade Tajinder to join AAP but he didn't join," Bagga's father Preetpal Singh Bagga told news agency ANI.