Mohali court issues orders to Punjab police to arrest BJP's Bagga

In a new twist to the dramatic arrest and rescue of a BJP leader Tajinder Pal Bagga, a Mohali court has now issued orders on Saturday (May 7) directing the Punjab police to arrest the leader once again.

The court has instructed the police to produce Bagga before them in relation to a case registered against him for making provocative statements, for promoting enmity and for alleged criminal intimidation. Bagga had reportedly made these statements when he was part of a BJP youth wing protest outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last month.

On Friday, Bagga had been picked up by the Punjab police from his Delhi house in connection with the same case. However, the Delhi Police, rushed to his rescue based on a kidnapping complaint filed by Bagga’s father.

The Delhi police, which comes under the Union home ministry and not the AAP led Delhi government, had obtained a search warrant, which was then flashed across the region, after which the Haryana police intercepted the vehicle carrying Bagga to Punjab and frisked him away. Bagga returned to his Janakpuri home in the early hours of Saturday after being produced before a Dwarka court magistrate, who ordered that he be released and allowed to go home.

Also read: Bagga’s episode exposes glaring chinks in Punjab AAP’s armour

Meanwhile, according to a medical report accessed by the media, Bagga had injuries on his back and shoulder, which he alleged that he suffered when he was reportedly manhandled by the Punjab police.

Even as the war of words broke out between AAP and the BJP, the Punjab police ostensibly not willing to admit defeat, approached the Mohali court today and has obtained Bagga’s arrest warrant. The case will be next heard on May 23.

However, newspaper reports quoted Bagga as saying that he will continue to raise issues against AAP and its chief Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP leader, who has slowly risen from being on the fringes of the party, said, “No matter one or 100 FIRs are registered against me, I will keep raising issues of dishonouring of Guru Granth Sahib and Kejriwal’s insult to Kashmiri Pandits.”

In 2015, Bagga was one of the #Super150 – a group of social media influencers hosted by PM Modi at his official residence on the sidelines of the Digital India launch. Bagga gained notoriety, when he stormed into lawyer Prashant Bhushan’s office because he had asked for a referendum in Kashmir; disrupted Arundhati Roy’s book launch; defaced the walls around the Pakistan high commission; put up a poster calling Rahul Gandhi, the father of mob lynching etc.