Punjab and Haryana High Court stays arrest of BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga till May 10

Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. File Pic

In a midnight development, the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the arrest of BJP leader Tajinder Bagga and directed the Punjab government to not take any coercive action against him until the next hearing which is scheduled for May 10. The BJP leader moved to the High Court while challenging the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him by a Mohali Court on Saturday.

The urgent hearing of the plea was held at the residence of Justice Anoop Chitkara in Chandigarh. Earlier, the High Court on Saturday adjourned the hearing on Bagga's case, in which the police of three states were involved, till May 10. The Punjab government, in its habeas plea, moved two applications -- one for making the Centre a party to the case and the second for direction to Delhi and Haryana Police to preserve the CCTV cameras.

Adjourning the matter, the Bench of Justice G.S. Gill sought a status report on or before Tuesday. On Friday, the state filed habeas corpus petition against the Haryana government, alleging that 12 Punjab police officers involved in the arrest of Bagga have been detained by Haryana police in Kurukshetra. Also Punjab sought the custody of Bagga, the national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, who was held in connection with a case registered against him in Mohali last month.

In its plea, the Punjab government alleged that when Punjab Police was taking Bagga to SAS Nagar (Mohali) to produce him before the area magistrate, the Haryana Police stopped them midway and brought them to the Kurukshetra where his custody was given to Delhi Police. Delhi Police, which reports to the Union Home Ministry, on Friday took Bagga's custody and later released him after legal process. It also lodged two cases against Punjab Police in connection with Bagga's arrest.

Punjab Police, while taking Bagga to Mohali from Delhi, was stopped midway by the Haryana Police after Delhi Police registered a kidnapping case on the complaint of father of the BJP leader.

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