Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga on Sunday thanked the Punjab and Haryana High Court along with Minority Commission for staying his arrest at a midnight hearing till May 10, saying that the law still works in the country.
“I thank the Punjab and Haryana High Court along with Minority Commission who showed yesterday that law still works in this country. The Minority Committee sent a notice to the Punjab government for not letting me wear my turban. In Sikhs, we can’t go out without a turban,” said Bagga in a self-made video.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court late Saturday night directed that Punjab Police cannot take any coercive action against the Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga till the next hearing on May 10.
In a respite against the arrest warrant issued by a Mohali court on Saturday evening, the High Court order came as a relief for Bagga who may not be taken in the custody by the Punjab Police till May 10. Justice Anoop Chitkara passed the order while hearing a petition challenging the arrest warrant for Bagga issued by the Mohali court.
Advocate General Anmol Rattan Singh said that Punjab has taken a strong objection to the matter being taken up at midnight, saying that it was not so urgent.
He further submitted that the main petition was filed on April 6 this year, and none stopped the petitioner from filing an application under Section 438 CrPC for a grant of anticipatory bail, which is a statutory provision.
Singh also contended that by filing an application for a stay of the arrest warrant and requesting the matter to be heard at such an off time, the petitioner is tainting the judicial system and it should not be permitted.
Bagga’s father slammed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal saying that the latter is scared of his son. “We are happy that Punjab-Haryana HC directed not to take coercive action against Tajinder. Arvind Kejriwal is scared of him as he’s exposing his wrongdoings. He also tried to persuade Tajinder to join AAP but he didn’t join,” Preetpal Singh Bagga, Tajinder’s father said.
The Punjab Police sought a non-bailable warrant against Bagga from a local court. There is no stay regarding the arrest of the accused in the present FIR nor any anticipatory bail application moved by the accused, said the Punjab Police.
Bagga reached his residence in Delhi on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday after he was “rescued” by the Delhi Police. Bagga said that the AAP registered an FIR against him on the basis of a “trimmed” video from his remarks on a television show where he had sought an apology from Arvind Kejriwal for his speech on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in the Delhi Assembly. He had later claimed that the Punjab Police had barged into his home in large numbers and arrested him “as they do it with a terrorist”.
Earlier in April, Bagga had claimed that the Punjab Police reached his home while he was in Lucknow. He had alleged that the Delhi police weren’t informed by the Punjab Police.
Meanwhile, National Commission for Minorities Chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura has said that the commission has sought report from Punjab chief secretary “within seven days” on allegations that Bagga was not allowed to wear his turban while being arrested by Punjab Police from his New Delhi residence.
He said, “We have written to the Punjab chief secretary seeking a report within seven days on BJP leader Tajinder Singh Bagga not being allowed to wear a turban while he was arrested by Punjab police.”
The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on Saturday took suo-moto cognizance of the reports that BJP leader Tajinder Singh Bagga was allegedly not allowed to wear his turban during his arrest by Punjab police.
“The Commission has taken suo-moto cognizance of the media reports that Tajinder Singh Bagga, a person belonging to Sikh Minority community, was allegedly not allowed to wear his turban during his arrest by Punjab police on May 6, 2022. This is a serious case of violation of the religious rights of a Sikh person. You are, accordingly, requested to submit a factual report on the alleged incident and media report within 7 days that is latest by May 14, 2022 to the Commission,” the Commission had said in a letter to Punjab Chief Secretary.