The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday quashed two separate FIRs registered by Punjab Police against former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and poet Kumar Vishwas and Delhi-based BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga.
The court quashed the FIR against Mr. Vishwas for making “inflammatory remarks through an interview” against Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, in which he had allegedly accused Mr. Kejriwal of having links with “separatist elements”.
Similarly, the FIR against Mr. Bagga related to “making inflammatory remarks” and “criminal intimidation” of Mr. Kejriwal, was quashed. Justice Anoop Chitkara passed the orders in both the cases.
In the case against Mr. Vishwas, Justice Chitkara noted that “the parties do not dispute the factum of the interview and its correctness. The matter requires nothing else to be proved. The veracity of the statements made in the interview is not required to be gone into and considered by launching the prosecution for trial as the same remains undisputed. The only relevant issue that remains to be addressed is whether the ‘interview’ of the petitioner given on February 16, 2022, led to the incident of April 12, 2022.”
“..it is a fit case for this court to prevent the abuse of the process of law because the allegations made in the complaint and the investigation do not contain any material which even remotely links the incidents including that of April 12 with the interviews of the petitioner,” read the order.
During the election campaign for the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, Mr. Vishwas allegedly accused Mr. Kejriwal of supporting separatists. The case was registered based on a complaint by an AAP supporter, who claimed that unknown persons tried to manhandle him while he was travelling with party supporters to villages. He alleged that the attack was inspired by Mr. Vishwas’s interview.
The Punjab Police on April 12 registered a case at Rupnagar’s Sadar police station against Mr. Vishwas under different Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) - including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place etc), 505 (whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report), 120B (criminal conspiracy), besides Section 125 of the Representation of People Act (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election).
During the investigation, police also examined the incidents of assaults at Chamkaur Sahib on February 18, and other places, which were stated to be the outcome of the interview. Mr. Vishwas then approached the High Court, seeking to quash the FIR against him, after which on May 2, the High Court had stayed his arrest.
The order further added, “..suppose all the allegations made in the complaint and the subsequent investigation are taken at the face value, still, there is not even an iota of evidence of any proximity between the interview and the incidents of Chamkaur Sahib, etc., and the one that had taken place on April 12.”
Quashing the FIR against Mr. Bagga, the court pointed out that “it is a fit case where the continuation of criminal proceedings shall amount to an abuse of the process of law.”
Punjab Police registered an FIR against Mr. Bagga on April 1 under sections 153A, 505, 505(2), and 506 of the IPC, accusing him of causing instigation, incitement, criminal intimidation, violence and imminent threat of life to Mr. Kejriwal and other leaders of AAP through his interview given to media and through his posts on Twitter. Mr. Bagga had criticised Mr. Kejriwal for his statement on the movie The Kashmir Files.
The court in its order observed, “..In the given context, the petitioner’s assertion that ‘Agar wo maafi nahi mangte to Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha ka ye Karyakarta unhe jine nahi dega’ reasonably amounts only to making somebody’s life restless with nagging about the undoing of an act.” It added “The purported statement of the petitioner is a protest against the statement made by the leader of AAP in power in Delhi and Punjab, where the BJP is in opposition. Being a political activist and an official spokesperson of a political party, as a shadow of the incumbent, it was well within his rights to make the people aware of the response of an opposite political leader. Democracy is all about informing the people and creating sentiments, and it would be an offence only if campaigning is full of hatred, or there is an involvement in malicious activities, or derogatory and vicious statements are made to gain political mileage. According to the petitioner, the movie, ‘The Kashmir Files’, had exposed the genocide of a minority, i.e., Hindus, in Kashmir. The petitioner put forth his displeasure because the party in power did not accept his demand to make the movie tax-free. It was well within his rights to raise such protests.”
The matter grabbed the limelight when Punjab Police arrested Mr. Bagga from his residence in Delhi on May 6, but while the police were on their way to Mohali, the Haryana Police stopped them and Mr. Bagga was handed over to Delhi Police. A case of kidnapping was registered by the Delhi Police on a complaint by Mr. Bagga’s father. Later, Mr. Bagga approached the High Court to quash the FIR.
