Relief for BJP's Tajinder Bagga, no arrest till July 5: Punjab and Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday granted interim relief of stay on arrest to BJP's Tajinder Singh Bagga till July 5. Earlier, on May 8, the High Court in its ruling stayed Bagga's arrest by the Punjab police.

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday granted interim relief of stay on arrest to BJP's Tajinder Singh Bagga till July 5. Earlier, the High Court had stopped the Punjab police from taking any punitive action against Bagga. BJP leader Tajinder Singh Bagga was arrested by the Punjab police on May 6, which had created a furore. The Mohali court had then issued a non-bailable warrant against Bagga. To challenge the issuance of a non-bailable warrant against him, the BJP leader had filed an application before the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking relief from the arrest.

On the intervening night of May 7 and 8, the special hearing took place at the residence of Justice Anup Chitkara, listing the case for an urgent take-up, the court issued an order giving a directive to the Punjab Advocate General to refrain from the execution of the NBW against Bagga till May 10. The case involves Bagga allegedly threatening Arvind Kejriwal during a protest outside the latter's residence on March 30. A complaint against Bagga was lodged by AAP's Punjab leader, Sunny Singh Ahluwalia. During the protest, Bagga, according to the complaint, had allegedly told television channels that “he would not let Kejriwal live”.

The protest was held by BJP members after Kejriwal said that the makers of the movie The Kashmir Files should release it on the video streaming platform YouTube so that everyone could watch it free of cost. On Ahluwalia’s complaint, Bagga was booked by the Punjab police on April 4 under Sections 153A (promoting enmity), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code on April 1.

Bagga on Saturday termed his detention by the Punjab police as "illegal" and said that he will keep fighting until Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal apologised for his comments on Kashmiri Pandits. "I will continue this fight till Kejriwal apologises. He called the atrocities on Kashmir Pandits a lie (referring to The Kashmir Files)...even if he files 100 FIRs against me, I will continue this battle," he said.

"I was present at my home, along with my father, on Friday. Around 8.30 am someone knocked on the door repeatedly. When my father opened it, some people entered and manhandled him. Some of them had weapons. They slapped my father and snatched his and my phones. They did not allow me to wear a turban and I was dragged out of the house," Bagga said.