Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Singh Bagga got relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court at a latenight hearing on Saturday. The court ordered that no coercive action should be taken against the BJYM leader till the next hearing on May 10. This order came hours after a Mohali court issued a new non-bailable warrant against him in connection with a case registered last month and directed Punjab Police to arrest and produce him before the court.
Meanwhile, a political slugfest between the AAP and the BJP escalated into protests as workers of the saffron party staged a protest outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal.
“Whereas Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, s/o Pritpal Singh, r/o B-1/170, Janak Puri New Delhi stands charged with the offence punishable U/Sec 153-A, 505, 505 (2), 506 IPC. You are hereby directed to arrest the said Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga and to produce him before me,” the judge said in the order. The next date for the case is May 23.
Back home in the early hours of Saturday, Bagga, surrounded by family members and friends at his Janakpuri residence, tore into the Aam Aadmi Party and Kejriwal over his arrest, accusing him of pursuing political vendetta through police in Punjab. “No matter if one or 100 FIRs are registered against me, I will keep raising issues of dishonouring of the Guru Granth Sahib and Kejriwal’s insult to Kashmiri Pandits,” he said, adding, “They (the AAP) are attacking me because I am raising my voice against the AAP and its chief Kejriwal.”
BJP leaders also demonstrated outside Kejriwal’s residence, calling him a “dictator”. The AAP accused the BJP and its governments of protecting its “goon” who incited riots in the border state Punjab.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta alleged that with Bagga’s arrest, it was clear that the AAP’s national convener had “misused” the Punjab Police for personal benefit. “Kejriwal is a dictator. What was Bagga’s crime? He just asked for Kejriwal’s clarification on his remarks on (The) Kashmir Files. He was not allowed to wear a turban during the arrest,” Gupta said, adding that the BJP will “not tolerate the insult to the turban”.
For The Unversed
On Friday, Bagga was arrested by Punjab Police from his home in Delhi, stopped in Haryana while being taken to Punjab and brought back to the national capital by Delhi Police hours later.
Delhi Police also registered a case of kidnapping based on a complaint by Bagga’s father Pritpal Singh Bagga, who alleged that “some people” came over to his house at around 8 am and took his son away. Bagga, also the national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), was held in connection with a case registered against him in Mohali last month.
After bringing him back to the national capital, he was produced before a magistrate late on Friday. Bagga was brought back to the capital after a high-voltage drama that drew in the police of three states and triggered a political slugfest.
The BJP has accused Punjab Police of “abducting” its leader, who has been vocal in his criticism of Kejriwal, and accused the AAP chief of pursuing vendetta through the state police. The AAP, however, has rejected the charge and said the Bagga was arrested for allegedly stoking communal tensions in Punjab.
Latest updates:
• Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Singh Bagga got relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court at a latenight hearing on Saturday. The court ordered that no coercive action should be taken against the BJYM leader till the next hearing on May 10. This order came hours after a Mohali court issued a new non-bailable warrant against him.
• The medical examination of BJP leader Tajinder Singh Bagga, conducted after the Punjab Police arrested him, has revealed injury marks on his body, the Delhi Police said. Bagga was arrested by Punjab Police from his home on Friday, stopped in Haryana while being taken to Punjab and brought back to the national capital by Delhi Police hours later. He was taken to DDU hospital in Delhi for Medico-Legal-Case (MLC), which took a couple of hours and finally he was produced before the magistrate. “The medical examination has revealed injury marks on Bagga’s body,” a senior police official said.
• The Punjab government has moved two applications before the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh, seeking the Centre be made a party in the Bagga arrest case, and that the May 6 CCTV footage of Janakpuri and Kurukshetra police stations be preserved. The Punjab government has alleged that its police personnel were “detained” at these two police stations when they went to arrest Bagga in connection with a case. On Friday, the Punjab government had moved a habeas corpus petition in the high court against the alleged detention of their personnel, a charge denied by Delhi and Haryana police.
• BJYM national president Tejasvi Surya met Bagga and his father Pritpal at their residence. After the meeting, the BJP MP said Bagga’s arrest was Kejriwal’s conspiracy to stifle his voice. “A false case has been registered against Bagga. Kejriwal is misusing Punjab Police and his goons in uniform barged into Bagga’s residence and abducted him. This was an attack on freedom of expression and our Constitution. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister (Amit Shah) and JP Nadda for standing with Bagga.”
• Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant also arrived in Delhi to meet Bagga and said, “I’ve come here to meet my Yuva Morcha brother Tajinder Singh Bagga; I was BJYM vice-president… my brother Bagga had just posted a tweet but AAP’s Kejriwal ji registered a case via Punjab Police, which later kidnapped him without informing Delhi Police.” He further said this was nothing but a kidnapping, and that the AAP had learnt their lesson in Goa. “Delhi will also stand up against injustice and whatever has happened in Goa will happen in Delhi… Punjab Police is being politically used…AAP will never come to power in Goa and Delhi public will also tell the same,” he added.
• A number of BJP workers were detained after they staged a protest outside Kejriwal’s residence. Heavy security, including members of the anti-riots cell, were deployed outside the CM’s residence.
• In the wake of Bagga expressing fear about his safety, the Delhi Police said it will make necessary security arrangements for him.
• Bagga, talking to CNN-News18 a day after the political row due to his arrest, alleged that 15 police personnel barged into his home on Friday, manhandled him and his father, “taking him away like a terrorist”. Meanwhile, his father has expressed happiness over the support the leader has received, and claimed there was a “threat to Bagga’s life”.
(With PTI inputs)
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