No coercive step to be taken against Tajinder Bagga: HC in late-night hearing

In a midnight hearing on Saturday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Punjab government not to take any coercive step against Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga after he sought a stay on the arrest warrant issued by a Mohali court earlier in the day.

Hours after the Mohali court issued the arrest warrant in connection with a case registered against him by the Punjab Police last month, Bagga moved the high court challenging it.

Justice Anoop Chitkara took up Bagga’s petition in an urgent hearing at his residence just before midnight.

“No coercive steps till May 10,” said Bagga’s counsel Chetan Mittal on the high court order.

The high court is slated to hear Bagga’s petition on May 10 in which he had sought the quashing of the FIR registered against him last month.

Mittal said that the court stayed the arrest warrant.

The hearing took place for around 45 minutes, said Mittal.

Earlier in the day, the court of Judicial Magistrate Ravtesh Inderjit Singh issued the arrest warrant against Bagga in connection with a case registered last month.

“Keeping in view the fact that sufficient opportunities have already been granted to the accused to join the investigation. It is necessary in the interest of the justice to issue non-bailable warrants of the accused Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga for 23.05.2022, who is evading arrest, in order to facilitate the investigation,” the court had said in its order.

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

The Punjab Police had booked Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga on the charges of making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation. The case was registered on a complaint of AAP leader Sunny Ahluwalia, a resident of Mohali.

The FIR registered on April 1 referred to Bagga’s remarks on March 30, when he was part of a BJP youth wing protest outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Bagga was booked under relevant sections, including 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place etc), 505 (whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report) and 506 (criminal intimidation), of the Indian Penal Code.

The Punjab police arrested Bagga from his Delhi residence on Friday. However, the Delhi police stopped their Punjab counterparts from taking Bagga and brought him back to the national capital hours later. The Delhi police had got a search warrant based on a complaint of abduction filed by Bagga’s father against Punjab police.

Bagga returned home early on Saturday after a Dwarka court granted him bail. However, the same day the Punjab police secured his arrest warrant from the Mohali court.

(With inputs from agencies)